Composite (Draft-ish Version!)
by Ariza Luca
Summary: (Book 2 in the Minecraft: Hybrid Mode series) It's been 7 years since the events of Hybrid. But now that a dark and ancient power known as the 'Admin' knows Jesse's name, Jesse's going to have to team up with friends old and new, and deal with bitter rivalries, fading friendships, a rather obstinate llama... and text messages from a group known as the Authors. (rated T for safeTy)
1. LOG 2-1: 7 YEARS LATER

**SURPRISE EVERYONE! Guess who managed to actually get Season 2 ON TIME?! Squeeeeee!**

 **Welp, about time to begin this. Let's get this started, shall we?**

 **Oh, I guess I should warn you first; there WILL be sort of 'self-insert's in here. If that's not your type of story, leave now. You have been warned.**

* * *

 ** _LOG 1-175_**

* * *

 _Nothing built can last forever. Every legend, no matter how great, fades with time. Each year, more and more details are lost to time and age, until all that remains are myths- half truths._

 _To put it simply, lies._

 _And yet, in all the known universe, from a small town that was devoured by a living storm to a dimension that not even the Old Builders could ever access, the legend of the New- or HYBRID - Order of the Stone endures, unabridged, as self-evident fact._

 _Indeed, it is only troubled lands that are in need of heroes, and we are so fortunate to have had, not so very long ago, FIVE heroes such as these._

 _PETRA the Blaze hybrid, whose hot temper, glowing blade, and deadly flames was often the fiery end to many a battle, even if said hot temper was the very thing that caused said battles._

 _OLIVIA the Enderman hybrid, an amazing redstone engineer and a creature of the elusive End, where the monstrous Ender Dragon used to dwell, since before the Hybrid Order existed._

 _AXEL the Creeper hybrid, whose explosive nature and destructive creativity caused damage greater than even the King of Boom Town could've imagined, and repaired damage that could've been far worse._

 _LUKAS the Ocelot hybrid, whose sharp claws and mind carried his team even when their situation was dire, and whose loyalty never wavered, even before he could remember the others he'd called his friends._

 _And JESSE, the Spider hybrid, who was always willing to lend her six hands to anyone in need, an amazing multitasker and friend, the first hybrid that the Old Builders ever created, and leader of the Hybrid Order of the Stone._

 _The road that these FIVE heroes, FIVE friends have followed was paved by those who came before them. The Old Builders, the Old Order of the Stone, the Bureau of Amalgamology. They've discovered so many things that may not have been possible had they not been what they were. New friends, new enemies, new allies, old friends, deaths and rebirths, memories that have been lost, then found, then fit back into place like a puzzle._

 _Their greatest quests have been recorded and stored, in a book that remains in the Order of the Stone's treasure room, a file on a computer in the Bureau of Amalgamology, a distant file on a former scientist's computer, in one of who is known as the 'Author's' computers, and their story will be passed down and retold and passed down again through generations, and generations, and more generations. So many enemies have been defeated, and so many more have been made a friend._

 _These FIVE friends have given so much to be remembered as FIVE heroes, and have definitely proved that what Gabriel the Warrior once said, not so long ago, is true._

 _Anyone can be a hero._

 _Even a hybrid._

 _This has been completed. The book has been closed._

 _Their story has ended._

* * *

 _ **LOG 2-1**_

* * *

 _Once a story has been completed, it can never be reopened._

 _It's over. No matter how hard you try, even the most powerful Author can do no more but add to it, write more. They can never go back and change the story, for better or worse. No matter how many times you try, how hard you attempt, how desperately you desire it to change, the story can never be reopened. You would have to break the laws of reality itself in order to change it._

 _Theoretically, if a story was reopened, we would have to continue it until there came a time when we could close it once again._

 _But you would be unable to do so._

 _Once a story is reopened, there is almost no way to close it again. A reopened story is trapped in a vicious loop, of closing, reopening, closing again, and reopening again- over and over. The story would go on forever, and ever, and ever, and because every story has an ending- how else would new stories be made?-With no new stories, the natural order would be corrupted, and eventually the story would wipe out the universe itself._

 _That is why stories cannot be reopened, and that is why you would have to change reality itself in order to reopen a story._

But that is only for most situations.

 _Jesse and her friends have been living happily for the past 7 years, I'm happy to say. Jesse is now the mayor of Beacon Town- her hometown- that has slowly grown and evolved as years as ticked on by._

 _But in these past 7 years, things have become more complicated. The Hybrid Order of the Stone's bond of friendship has begun to fade. With little time for adventures, more responsibilities, and less time for simple interactions, old friendships have begun to fade, rivalries have begun to emerge, and people are beginning to have higher and higher expectations for the spider hybrid- expectations that even the leader of the Hybrid Order may not be able to fulfill._

 _Well, at least until Jesse somehow manages to get her hand stuck in a creepy, cursed prismarine gauntlet... and finds a mysterious phone that is intent on helping Jesse repair the 'damage' done to Jesse's world._

 _We discover the downside of fame that comes with being a hero, too. For example, having a dark and ancient power know your name, an Author who needs the world's greatest hero to 'close a story', hybrids of beings that were never_ _meant to be hybrids, and_ _the omniscient presence that permeated her life throughout her adventures since the Witherstorm's creation becoming a much more tangible force._

 _A new adventure beckons, sending the spider hybrid on a journey that'll take her to the darkest depths of the world, and farther. With old friends and new allies alike, fortune hunters, frenemies, old friends, family members, an Author or two, or three, or ten, and a rather disobedient llama, Jesse will embark on this journey of tough choices, peril, mystery, and the responsibility to help an Author close a story that was never meant to be reopened._

 _My friends, if we are going to have any hope of closing a reopened story, if we're to have any hope in breaking this vicious loop, we are going to have to fight a myth with another myth. A story with a story._

 _Even more potently, the story's creator._

 _As this story unfolds, we're going to find out exactly how a story that was never meant to be reopened-_ should never _have been reopened, did exactly did._

 _And we're going to find out exactly why this story has become a **COMPOSITE**_.

* * *

"... I always liked stories where the hero has no idea that they're destined for greatness. The sort of heroes who are living their lives, and assume that nothing exciting will _ever_ happen to them."

 _Jesse was kneeling down in the treehouse, patting Reuben with a grin on her face. "Hehe... looking good, Reuben._ "

 _The pig grinned and then gave a loud oink, making the girl laugh a bit._

"Those are the kind of heroes in this story. They started as just a bunch of friends in a treehouse, looking up to their idols who had come before them."

 _"Would you rather fight a hundred chicken sized zombies..." Olivia turned around, giving Jesse a lopsided grin- especially since her right eye was brighter than the other. "Or ten zombie-sized chickens?"_

 _"Yes, I'm ready. Waiting on you guys," Axel chuckled, shaking his head at Olivia's nitpickiness as he rubbed his arm a bit._

 _"Hey Jesse. Guys." Petra nodded a bit, pickaxe resting on her shoulder and a cool grin on her face._

 _Lukas rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, hair twitching. "No hard feelings, guys. If you're cool with Petra, you're cool with us."_

"But when disaster struck, and an evil monstrosity threatened to destroy the world, those friends discovered that destiny had bigger plans for them. And that heroes can come from the most humble of beginnings."

 _Jesse was running for the gate, but it looked like she wouldn't make it. Her foot suddenly caught, and she tripped forward-_

 _Her six arms lashing out and stopping her from faceplanting into concrete._

 _Then she was leaping into the air, enchanted sword glowing brightly as it plunged down at the Command Block._

"They travelled the world to battle that monster, facing obstacles and sacrifices every step of the way. It wasn't easy, but they had each other. And working together, they struck it down and saved everyone."

 _Jesse threw one of her upper arms into the air in a cheering motion, a grin coming over her face. "For Reuben!_ "

 _A cheer rose up from the crowd, making Jesse wince a little with a big grin._

 _"_ Soon, they were the most famous people in the whole world. And their legend..."

" _I suppose I still have much to learn..._ " _Milo smiled grudgingly at Jesse. "Thank you, Jesse._ "

 _"I don't understand yet, but... I trust you,_ " Isa said simply.

"Their fame..."

" _I don't want to forget anyone ever again," the spider hybrid said, in a voice so soft it was nearly inaudible. "... I'm not forgetting you again."_

 _Cassie stared at Jesse silently for a moment, before shutting her eyes and squeezing them shut, the two girls slowly sinking to the ground in a tight hug._

"Just continued to grow as they explored _more_ worlds..."

" _Okay... eyes, not red,_ not _red... well, except-_ " _Harper paused, blinking a few times, before getting right up in Jesse's face, close enough that the spider hybrid leaned away a little._

 _Harper stared at Jesse for a moment, before stepping back a bit, confusion dancing in her eyes._

 _"... Jesse?_ "

"Venturing into the great unknown."

 _Jesse suddenly froze, eyes widening._

 _Standing not too far away, was a boy with brown hair, a pair of brown wolf ears... and Jesse's green eyes._

 _And in the final cage in the room made of obsidian..._

 _A boy with red hair. Vibrant brown eyes. Cute little pig ears._

 _"Reuben?"_

"And that's how those five friends," Lukas continued reading from the journal, pacing up and down the hallway, "plus the bravest pig- and eventually, hybrid- in the world, took their place in history as some of the greatest heroes that ever lived."

Cassie was nodding along attentively, arms wrapped around Winslow. Jesse sat on the top step with Jace next to her, batting at his ears, and Reuben in her lap, the little pig hybrid squirming around a bit- he liked reading, but people reading to him from a book, especially something as long as a novel, was stretching his patience a bit. (Understandable, he WAS only about... 11, now?) Olivia was grinning, before it turned into a scowl as she elbowed a softly-snoring Axel in the ribs.

Axel blinked rapidly as he shook himself out of his sleep, Olivia sending him an annoyed look. "Ah... whowahuh? What part are we at? Am I being awesome?" he asked, still slightly groggy.

"We thought it was great, Lukas," the Enderman hybrid told him, adjusting her ponytail slightly. About two years back, she'd traded in the pigtails for the more 'mature' ponytail, and her red vest for a red lab coat. Over a black suit with a purple shirt and a black tie... it looked pretty formal. And you couldn't say it didn't match her right eye.

Cassie hummed, adjusting her elbow-length-sleeved cardigan. "Although... I can't say it was always technically _accurate._ "

Lukas shrugged a bit, journal still in hand. "Yeah, I mean, uh, well-" He shrugged a bit, Reuben finally squirming out of Jesse's lap and tumbling down a stair or two, bumping into Cassie's back. "I definitely _exaggerated_ here and there, but- it was for the drama." He self-consciously adjusted his shoulderpads and his shirt. The 25-year-old was _still_ not used to wearing a leather jacket over a formal shirt, to Jesse's slight amusement. Even when he wasn't just adjusting everything, his ears or tail would be twitching madly.

Axel shrugged. "I mean, it made US sound cool, and that's a good thing."

Jace grinned at the comment, tail wagging. "Well, a _little_ exaggeration never hurts... but there were some points where, I dunno, Lukas- kinda seemed like you were stretching the truth a little _too_ much."

"Yeah..." Olivia rubbed her head a bit, awkwardly. "And it might make people think we did stuff that we didn't actually do."

Jesse finally shrugged, leaning down and scooping Reuben into a hug. "Well, you're the writer, Lukas. I know you'll make the right call." And the spider hybrid grinned, her extra arms reaching down and gently starting to tickle Reuben, who let out a squeal of delight. Her green and red eyes crinkled up a bit, happily.

Lukas looked pleased. "Thank you, Jesse. I _had_ been hoping to have it ready to read at Founding Day, but, uh..." He shrugged a bit. "Next year."

The Enderman hybrid leaned back against the creeper hybrid, Cassie scooting a few inches to the side to avoid Olivia leaning on her. "I can't believe it's Founding Day _already_. Sneaks up on me every time."

"Congrats, Lukas," and Jesse grinned at the ocelot hybrid. "I'm proud of you for finishing it. That took a lot of work."

Lukas beamed at Jesse. The two of them had tried dating for a while... honestly, it was still up in the air as to whether or not it was working out or not, but the two of them had definitely been going on dates whenever Lukas came to town, and so they never knew what to say whenever someone asked if they were dating or not. It wasn't like they were actually boyfriend and girlfriend... but they _were_ going on a lot of dates. "I'm glad you liked it," he told her sincerely. "You did so much, Jesse... you're a real hero."

"Yeah, Jesse's great!" Reuben said cheerfully, butting his head into a slightly-embarrassed Jesse's side. (She went back to tickling him.)

"But... we all did, right?" Axel asked, hesitantly.

Olivia nodded. "Yeah. We were _all_ there."

"Well, not me and Jace, but definitely Axel and Olivia," Cassie said, stroking Winslow's fur.

Jace grinned, adjusting his red suspenders over the dark shirt he was wearing. He'd been playing around and mixing and matching styles lately. And, I gotta say... he looked pretty good. "Well, aren't you the humble one?" he teased.

"Hush or I'll tell Petra you were flirting with me."

"It's not like Petra and I dating."

Jesse couldn't help but snort at that. Jace and Petra were practically freaking _married_ at this point. They lived in the same house, Petra had a ring from him that would migrate around on her fingers, Jace was usually on adventures with her... the only reason he wasn't on one today with her _yet_ was because he'd wanted to visit his twin sister. (Whereupon she basically forced him to help her with paperwork.) It had only taken about twelve dozen hints and Cassie's relentless, teasing jokes for them to finally try it out, about four and a half years ago.

Man... four years. That was a long time.

"For, uh..." Axel cleared his throat, bringing Jesse's attention back to the topic at hand. "For most of it, anyway."

Lukas hesitated a bit. "That's true... um..."

Jesse straightened into a standing position, gently settling a giggling Reuben on the step next to her. "Hey, c'mon, guys. We all did it together. We're the Order of the Stone, after all, even Cassie and Jace."

Lukas hummed thoughtfully, scribbling something down using his quill. "It _is_ a good note, though... I'll keep that in mind when I'm editing." After a moment, he nodded and looked up at the group, eyes crinkling up. "Well... this has all been really helpful feedback, guys. Once Ivor and Harper get back from their adventures, I can add a chapter about _them_... and then it will _finally_ be done."

Axel hummed, tilting his head. "Man, they've been gone a _long_ time."

The door at the end of the hall abruptly started to slide open with the slight scrape of stone, and Olivia's eyes darted over to check who it was. "Jesse. Your intern."

A thin, adorable-looking (and I mean that in the same way that Reuben was cute. This guy was just so sweet.) walked in, a green jacket over his gold shirt with a blue tie. His thin nose held up a ginormous pair of glasses, and his black hair stood up a bit on one end. "Jesse?" the boy asked, nervously.

The spider hybrid grinned, getting up from where she'd been sitting. "Oh, hey Radar!" she told him, cheerfully, as Lukas quickly shut his journal.

"Oh. Gosh. Wow," Radar said, looking around at the Order with starry eyes, "I- I didn't know all of you would be in here. Heh. Olivia, ma'am. Axel, sir. Lukas, sir. Jace, sir. Cassie, ma'am. So- so sorry to interrupt everyone."

Olivia grinned. "Awww... he is just _adorable_ ," she said, softly.

Radar bowed a bit, looking slightly nervous. "My deepest, sincerest, utmost apologies if I've caused any inconvenience."

Jesse laughed, trotting down the steps towards Radar. "Radar, don't be so formal!" she told him, cheerfully. "Cut it out with all the 'sir' and 'ma'am' stuff."

"Right-o! Right." Radar grinned. " _Awesome._ "

"I kinda liked it," Axel said nonchalantly, shrugging.

Jesse glanced at him, before back at Radar. "So... what's up?"

"Oh, um, well, first things first..." Radar reached into his pocket, holding out what Jesse instantly recognized as a smartphone. After Olivia and a few other Redstonia professors had worked together to create one, they'd started being mass-produced. Jesse still didn't have one- with all the distractions it seemed to provide you with, and the fact that she didn't really _need_ one, she'd been procrastinating on getting it. "Well, someone left this on the doorstep earlier saying that this is yours."

Jesse's brow furrowed a bit. "Huh? But... I don't have a smartphone," she said, slowly.

"That's what I thought was weird... here," and Radar passed it over quickly. "Maybe you'd oughta have a look at it."

Jesse took the phone using her uppermost set of arms and looked at it. Yep... pretty much what a smartphone looked like, nowadays.

She turned it over, checking it... and then paused. "Hey... uh, Olivia... did you put this symbol on the back of it?" she asked, slowly.

Olivia leaned over to see what Jesse meant. On the back of the smartphone, there was a symbol. It looked like an open book with some sort of rhombus with an 'A' written inside the rhombus. "Huh?" the Enderman hybrid's brow crinkled. "No, I've never seen that before..."

The phone suddenly buzzed in her.

Jesse looked over at her friends, who all looked just as bewildered as she did, before turning the phone back over to look at the screen.

On the screen was a single message.

 _Hello?_

* * *

 **A/N: And with this, we have _officially_ kick-started Season 2 of Minecraft: Hybrid Mode! I hope you enjoy Composite, and again, if you don't enjoy self inserts, don't read beyond this point. x3**

 **Welp, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. This'll be worked on alongside HCM, so... I hope you enjoy x3**

 **I won't spoil anything in this A/N, so please feel free to guess around with this.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	2. Familiar Faces

"... huh. Weird..." Jesse put the phone into her pocket, deciding to have a look at it later. "Anyway, anything else, Radar?"

"Oh, yeah- I got a message from Petra that she's on her way to the mines," Radar said, nodding rapidly at the spider hybrid, " _for that adventure you scheduled?_ "

Jesse sensed rather than saw the way Axel, Olivia, and Lukas gave each other awkward looks, although Cassie shrugged nonchalantly and Jace perked up immediately at the prospect of seeing Petra.

"If you hurry..." Radar said, thoughtfully, "you should still have time for that AND your Founding Day duties..."

"Oh, nice!" Jesse said cheerfully, "we should get going!" She started towards Radar, Jace dashing over and popping Reuben on his back cheerfully (the pig hybrid let out a cheerful squeal at that), while Cassie slowly stood up, stretched, and also followed them over.

"Yeah... uh... about that..." Lukas said, slowly.

Jesse, Jace, and Cassie all turned around to see Axel and Olivia exchanging sheepish looks, while Lukas just looked outright apologetic.

The Enderman hybrid finally looked over at Jesse as she stood up, once again towering over Axel a bit as she avoided Jesse's gaze. Jesse hated that her right eye was an Enderman eye sometimes; it gave Olivia a reason not to look people in the eyes. "We've... actually got our _own_ Founding Day stuff we need to prep for," she said slowly.

"Yeeeaahhh..." Axel winced as he rubbed the back of his head. "I... need to get back to Boom Town. I'm judging a TNT Rally in the morning."

Olivia glanced away, rubbing her own head awkwardly, nearly upsetting her green beanie with the goggles. "And... I need to finish grading some Redstone assignments."

Lukas coughed awkwardly, the ocelot hybrid's ears twitching anxiously. "I was... _really_ hoping to start in on these revisions..."

The spider hybrid wanted to sigh a bit. For some reason, she'd noticed that after a few years, they were starting to... I dunno. Drift apart a bit. They lived in separate places, they didn't see each other as often... they didn't often go on adventures anymore, either. Honestly, CASSIE was the only one who always had time for Jesse. And that was just because she kind of just babysat.

It was kind of funny, actually, seeing the former White Pumpkin babysit children and pets. Sometimes on Halloween she'd even throw on the White Pumpkin costume and do a joking little 'Twin Moons Manor' tour right there in town. Jesse was all too happy to help out in it as the 'tour guide'/hero.

It was kind of fun, really.

To be honest though, it was still kind of sad to see her friends- even her _twin brother_ , for Notch's sake- slowly beginning to drift apart.

However, she just put a smile on her face and shrugged a bit. "Aw, well, that's okay. I get it. You have your life, and so do I."

Olivia drooped a bit, the Enderman hybrid looking _so_ relieved at Jesse's nonchalance about the whole situation. "Ohhhh. Thanks, Jesse."

Axel grinned, a sheepish grin coming over the creeper hybrid's face as well. "Yeah. Thanks."

" _Petra_ 'll never let you hear the end of it, though," Jace teased, patting his sister on the back and making her grin at him.

The others started following Cassie, Jace, Jesse, and Reuben out of the treasure hall, Axel giving the most awkward smile of all time. "Tell Petra I said _next_ time for sure, okay?" He then grinned a second later as the eight of them began walking out of the treasure hall, Radar walking at Jesse's side. (For the most part.) "I can't wait to see how that sword of hers is coming along."

"Yeah, I'll tell her," Jesse said cheerfully, the spider hybrid giving her friend a grin.

Radar clasped his hands together, Lukas giving the slightly-shorter boy a grin. (Seriously, the kid's younger than Jesse and he'd already half a head taller than her. Typical.) You could pretty much see anime sparkles surrounding Radar right about now. "I can't believe I'm walking out of the Order Hall _with_ the Order! Haha!"

Olivia grinned, the Enderman hybrid's right eye beginning to glow. "Ahhh, so freaking cute!" she grinned, making Cassie and Jace chuckle a bit.

* * *

Jesse grinned at the cow balloon floating near the Order Hall. It was a very majestic decoration.

Yes, Jesse thought cows were kind of majestic.

... don't ask why, okay?

"Sooo, the other towns having Founding Day celebrations, huh? _"_ Radar asked, looking over at the other members of the Hybrid Order of the Stone.

"Of course!" Olivia said, grinning at Radar, "we were _all_ part of taking down the Witherstorm." She kept talking about Redstonia- something about helping Ellegaard engineer a music machine for the evening ball or something- but right about then the phone in Jesse's pocket buzzed, making her automatically use one of her lower arms to flick it out and have a look, even as it buzzed again.

It was the same message. Being sent over and over again.

 _Hello?_

 _Hello?_

 _Hello?_

Jesse put the phone back in her pocket to avoid tripping down a staircase (that would be rather unfortunate), Axel speaking up as he adjusted his green plaid shirt. He said it had a bit of a 'calming effect' on him. (Honestly, Jesse was pretty sure he just liked it because it was green. Green was the guy's favorite color.) "Yeah, it's mostly TNT and fireworks in Boom Town. Magnus and I designed the firework finale again this year."

"Well," Lukas said, coming to a stop in front of Jesse, Cassie and Jace as Axel grinned and Olivia smiled in a sentimental way, "I promise I will try and stop by." He leaned forward and bumped his nose into Jesse's cheek, making the spider hybrid perk up a bit. (No, they _still_ had not graduated to kissing... they'd only been going on dates for fun at first. Eventually it had turned into somewhat actually serious dating.) "It was _awesome_ to catch up with you guys."

"Totally!" Axel agreed, enthusiastically.

"Yeah, this has been great," Olivia agreed cheerfully.

Cassie nodded, giving Olivia a pat on the shoulder. "Definitely. It's great to see you guys are doing so well."

Jace grinned and nodded, bouncing Reuben a bit and making the pig hybrid giggle a bit. "Yeah, we missed you guys."

"Won't be the same without you guys," Jesse said, rather wistfully.

"Aww, buddy," and Axel leaned forward and enveloped the petite spider hybrid in a bear hug, "you're gonna make me sad."

Jesse smiled a bit as Olivia bent down for a hug too, before the two of them both started going off in their separate ways to head back to Redstonia or Boom Town- you know, based on the person.

Lukas's ears twitched happily. "Thanks again, guys," he said cheerfully, "I'll let you know as soon as I'm done with the revisions."

"Oh. Cool. Can't... wait," Axel said, in a significantly less-than-excited voice.

"Axel," Olivia told him in a scolding voice.

Axel shrugged, before waving goodbye to Jesse and turning around again, Lukas giving Jesse another bump on the cheek and then heading off himself. Cassie scooped Reuben off of Jace's back and set him down next to Radar. (The two of them got along REALLY well. Sometimes if Cassie was sick or busy, and Jesse was busy, Radar would go and babysit Reuben.)

"I tell ya," Radar said, giving his head a cheerful little shake, "I am just the luckiest."

Jesse rubbed her head, giving him a rather quizzical look. "Yeah?" she asked, before starting to walk down the steps into town.

"Oh yeah! Getting to work with you, hanging out with the Order, babysitting Reuben," Reuben grinned up at him at that, " _and_ , living in the coolest town in the _whole_ world: Beacontown!"

Jesse couldn't help but grin at Beacontown as well. The whole place was an explosion of color and cool builds, sometimes not always looking the most organized or fancy, but definitely unique. It gave the whole city its own, unique feel, showing the places where people came from and where that heritage came from, things in people's imaginations, and making the whole thing feel like a hybrid (Jesse grinned a bit at the joke) of different places and times cobbled together into one.

She couldn't help but laugh when she spotted all the parrots around town. Some random guy called Jon Stauder or something had brought a bunch of 'em with him when he'd moved to Beacontown, and they'd fly... all over the place.

Like, _all_ over.

"I realize that somedays Jesse'd rather be out adventuring with you guys, but... I'm really glad you're our leader," Radar said, directing the last part to the spider hybrid. "You just... make this place awesome, along with Jace and Cassie and Reuben." Radar grinned and patted Reuben on the head.

Jesse shrugged a bit, smiling at Radar cheerfully. "Well, I really do love this place. And it just keeps getting cooler."

"Right?" Radar almost squealed, making Cassie grin and pat him on the shoulder. "I love it too. It's exactly the kind of home I'd always dreamt of having. I, uh... I know that Petra's waiting for you in the mines," and Jesse glanced over in the direction of the mines, "but I bet people would really appreciate you helping set up for the celebration."

Jace beamed at the idea of going to see Petra. "I'm gonna go ahead and wait by the mines," he said cheerfully, "I think I need to craft some new armor, mine's getting kinda old..."

Cassie nodded, bending down and patting Reuben's head a bit with a warm grin. "Well, I'll need to grab my armor too. Can you handle Reuben for a while?"

"Cassie, Reuben's _my_ kid," Jesse said, giving Cassie an amused smile at that.

"Aww, I was hoping you wouldn't notice," Cassie joked, the two girls laughing at the joke before they (Cassie and Jace) went off to go grab the stuff they needed.

Jesse grinned a bit, before looking down at Reuben. "You wanna come with us on our little 'quest' today?" she asked cheerfully.

Reuben's eyes lit up. "Yeeees!" he chirped, dancing around in a little circle (and making Jesse hide a grin at how _adorable_ he was).

"Wow... can Reuben handle himself?" Radar asked, eyes getting rather round.

"Oh yeah. He's a tough little guy," and Jesse ruffled the pig hybrid's hair cheerfully, making him beam and swat her off gently.

Jesse and Reuben trotted off, looking around town a bit, before Jesse spotted something that looked like a... raised bit of land with various colored wools surrounding it. Jace had paused by it, turning around and around in little circles as if he'd smelled something. "Huh. Wonder what that is..." The two of them wandered closer... before a door opened.

"Jesse dude!" Nell cheered, the blonde girl from the Old Builder's world strolling out of the doorway.

"Nell!" Jace shouted in delight, dropping to all fours and bolting up a small flight of steps to nearly full-out _tackle_ Nell in a tight hug.

"Jace, dude! 'Sup!" Nell cheered, clapping Jace on the back and yanking him into a tight hug. "Oh, _so_ totally radical to see you, by the way.

"Nell!" Jesse exclaimed, a huge, surprised but delighted grin coming over her face as she put her lower arms on her hips, her middle arms crossed, and her upper arms reached up and laced behind the back of her head. "I thought you were out seeing the worlds?"

Nell shrugged, grinning at Jesse widely. " _Did_ that! Righteous times! Thought I'd try settling down for a while, though." She crossed her arms and shrugged a bit. "Like, I _love_ danger and derring-do as much as the next person, but sometimes you just wanna have a place to store your junk, okay?"

"Well- I'm so glad you're here!" Jesse said, the spider hybrid grinning widely at Nell.

"Yeah, I never expected to see you again or something dramatic," Jace grinned, clapping Nell on the back himself. "It's _so good_ to see you."

Nell's face lit up. " _Man_ , that is _just_ the sort of warm welcome I'd hoped from you guys. You guys _rock_ , dudes." She paused for a moment, before sitting down on the steps. "Between you and me, I'm worried that I won't, like, fit in here... so many rad builds, awesome people... I really wanna make, like, a good first impression, you know?"

Reuben's face was a bit blank- Jesse and Jace had gotten used to the 'surfer-dude' talk, but not Reuben. He glanced at Radar.

Radar just shrugged a bit.

" _Which_ , I _thought_ might be _helped_ if my front yard had a statue by the one and only Jesse?" Nell asked, gesturing at the sort of pedestal that Jesse had spotted earlier.

"Not sure if I have time..." Jesse hummed thoughtfully, touching her lip, " _but_ , I'll see what I can do!"

"Hey hey hey!" Nell cheered, grinning, "this is gonna be so cool. Scoop up that clay over there-" Jesse looked over and spotted the huge pile of play. "And let's get to business!"

Jesse mined the clay pretty quickly (well, yeah, it's clay), before going over to the pedestal.

... and then realizing she didn't actually know what to build.

Good job realizing it this late.

Nell danced a bit while Jesse regarded the pedestal, before laying down blocks in the shape that resembled the symbol on the back of the smartphone, but standing up. She then added a clay block to each of the corners of the whole thing.

She dusted off her hands a moment later, stepping back with a small grin on her face.

"That is some sweet work," Nell said, stepping down from the stairs to take a good look, "Noice. Jesse, dude, thanks!" and she threw her arms around Jesse in a tight hug, grinning as she released Jesse from the tight hug a few seconds later.

Jesse smiled brightly. "It was my pleasure!" she said, cheerfully.

"Well, it is an _honor_ , mi amigo, and don't be a stranger, okay?" Nell asked, giving Jesse a cheerful wave and then walking back towards the house... shop... Whatever it was.

"Well, she is, a... fascinating woman, isn't she?" Radar asked, blinking after Nell a bit. "Very free-spirited."

Jesse nodded a little bit, turning to face Radar. "Heh, yeah," she said, absentmindedly patting Reuben on the head, "kind of reminds me of Petra back in her early days. Speaking of whom... you said she's waiting for me at the-"

Radar nodded, pointing in the direction of the mineshaft. "Mineshaft. Mmhm."

Jesse nodded, before glancing at Jace. "Wanna walk with me for a bit, Jace?" she asked, mildly.

"Yeah, of course!" Jace threw an arm around his sister, walking forward a few more paces, before spotting Cassie, who was just staring at something just out of their sight of vision. (She was... kind of blocking the way a bit.)

"Hey, Cassie. Something u-?" Jesse asked, walking forward to put a hand on Cassie's shoulder, when suddenly an explosion of yapping came to life, and Jesse jumped back to see a tiny wolf puppy running in circles around Jesse. Jace grinned and leaned down, barking away cheerfully to the wolf, who barked back but kept running around Jesse. Reuben giggled, kneeling down to see the puppy better.

"Oh! Wink, get back here!" scolded a familiar voice, "leave Jesse and-"

Jesse looked up, her own eyes widening as she spotted Stacy standing a few feet away, eyes wide with surprise, StampyCat sitting on a low wall right next to her with a bewildered look on his face.

But they weren't looking at Jesse right now. No, they were looking at the girl with brilliant red hair standing NEXT to Jesse.

"... Cassie Rose?"

* * *

 **A/N: Oh boiiiiiii Cassie's gonna need to do some explaining to them, huh? 0-0**

 **Wow, there's so much stuff in Beacontown to do! I FREAKING LOVE IT xD Still haven't looked at everything, honestly.**

 **This story will NOT have RQTCs, seeing as I'm finding it harder and harder to actually come up with questions. There will be something replacing it, but I've still got to figure out what that is.**

 **Responses to reviewers!**

 **Lunar: Yep x3 / Haha, yep x3**

 **S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: x3 / (laughs)**

 **the indecisive bird: (laUGHS) Yeah, I know how you feel.**

 **TheAmberShadow: Yes, no, and no. xD There's only one episode out, after all. I DO have three 'DLC' episodes sort of planned out, but that's still an up-in-the-air thing going on right now. I'm writing this like I wrote Hybrid - barely any planning at all xD / (laughs) / Hmm. / x3**

 **LittleAngelbun: x3 Cool! / They're STILL dating, honestly xD / Yes, Jace and Jesse are siblings, but Jace was talking to Cassie. / Right? xD Unfortunately, that just makes me suspect him more, since his voice actor is Yuri Lowenthal. / (laughs)**

 **NinaNaranja: Yep! x3 / (laughs) I honestly have nothing against self-inserts as long as the self-insert isn't a Mary Sue, a Gary Stu, or a Gary Sue/Mary Stu, and as long as the story's well written. / Ahhh xD**

 **BeliTheGhoti0304: (laughs) Yep. / Thanks! I'm glad you like it :3**

 **Infernius Flashfire: No and yes.**

 **AquaK13: YEP! / x3 / No, not yet. They're super close to it, but not quite xD / They're as close as they can get to getting married without a promise ring (it's just a nice ring he got her as a gift, nothing else xD) / Jace and Petra didn't know each other previously. Lukas and Jesse did, so for them it felt a bit awkward to start dating. / x3 / True, but it IS Lukas's book. / (laughs) Unfortunately, I'm rather suspicious of Radar, mainly because of his voice actor. / Yep! x3 / (grins)**

 **RapidSammi: x3**

 **RavenBlaze4850: (grins) / Hehe xD / (grins again) / Nahh, it's fine. x3**

 **Emily The Avenger: xD**

 **GirlOfMyOwnWorld: (laughs)**

 **Jack: I'm glad you like it! / Indeed xD / (grins) / Yeah, I don't have anything against self-inserts as long as the story is well written, and the self-insert isn't OP or overly emo. (Emo is fine, OVERLY so is annoying.)**

 **J.M.M: Who?**

 **sailor . mikuchan: It helps that I got all As and Bs this year x3**

 **Rabbits rule: (laughs)**

 **giriri: x3**

 **That's all for this time! Surprised I got 18 reviews in one day, lol xD**

 **Bai!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	3. Beacontown is Great

Cassie glanced away, biting the inside of her cheek so that it dimpled. "Um... hi, Stacy. Stampy," she said, in a soft voice.

"You're... alive?" Stampy was gaping at her in shock. "You're still alive?"

"Stampy, Lizzie's busy off with her friend Joel, so she might not be able to make it to Founding Day. Oh, hey Jesse. Hey, Cassie- AGH! Cassie?!"

Jesse looked over to see Dan gaping at Cassie as if she were some sort of rare mob, hair a shade of pure white right about now. "Oh, hey Dan- um, don't worry about Cassie, guys. She's actually pretty cool."

Reuben looked from Cassie, who was staring at her shoes, to the three YouTubers currently gaping at her. "Do they not like her?" Reuben asked.

"Uh, no, it's-"

"Did you two... become friends or something?" Stampy asked tentatively, as Wink continued running around in little circles around Jesse and Cassie (Winslow was up on Cassie's shoulder hissing away at the puppy). He was still shocked, but he was obviously trying to tamp it down to avoid scaring Reuben or something.

"Well, technically, we didn't _become_ friends, we already _were_ friends before this point, because when I was a kid I lived in a lab, and the lab made hybrids, and Cassie's aunt was one of the scientists, and Cassie and I were friends, but then I got brainwashed into forgetting everything, so I forgot Cassie, but I remembered her, and you guys aren't getting a word I'm saying, are you?" Jesse finished calmly, at the sight of the three YouTubers goggling at her in confusion. Dan's hair had changed to a vibrant orange.

"Um... not really, no," Stampy said, weakly.

"... sure, yes, we became friends," Jesse said at last, putting a hand on Cassie's shoulder.

Cassie glanced up from her shoes at Jesse, before taking a deep breath and looking right at the three YouTubers. "I... I am _so_ sorry about what I did. It was... completely stupid, and I was... a jerk, I- I-" Cassie glanced at Reuben, and trailed off, not wishing to blatantly talk about murder in front of the kid. "... I'm so sorry."

Stampy, Stacy, and Dan exchanged looks, before Stampy got up off the wall. (Cassie flinched a bit automatically.) "You know, I don't think we'll ever _trust_ you as much as we did before the whole 'White Pumpkin' thing... but, but, but I think I'm willing to give you a second chance."

"Yeah, you... did some pretty crap things," Dan said bluntly, making Cassie flinch again, "but if Jesse's willing to give you one, then I'm sure I can give you one too."

With that, the two of them looked at Stacy, who had her arms crossed, a stony look on her face.

It softened after a moment. "I guess I can give you a second chance. But pull _anything_ funny and I'll sic Wink on you."

Cassie's face crumpled, and her shoulders started shaking.

"Oh, oh, Cassie, crap, don't cry," and Jesse pulled the red-haired girl into a hug, as Cassie started sniffling a bit.

Reuben tackled the both of them in a hug, making both the spider hybrid and the redhead yelp loudly as the two of them toppled to the ground, the three YouTubers sniggering a bit at that. Jace watched with interest.

"Well, anyway- I didn't expect to see you guys here!" Jesse exclaimed, grinning as she propped herself up on her elbows, Cassie sitting up and letting Reuben cuddle her and Winslow with a soft smile. Wink was _still_ running in circles around the duo, even though they'd just gotten knocked over by the tiny little pig hybrid.

Stacy shrugged, grinning. "Thought we'd give this town of yours a try," she said cheerfully, popping her hands into the air.

"It's quite lovely!" Stampy agreed, cheerfully.

"Yeah- and I can't believe how many people are here!" Dan exclaimed, grinning around at the crowds of people meandering about in town.

Jesse got back to her feet, Winslow still running in circles cheerfully around the spider hybrid as she grinned at the three YouTubers. "Well, it's _so_ great to see you! We need to hang out!" she said happily.

"Oooh, can I join?"

"Yes, Jace. Of course you can join," Jesse said, rolling her eyes a bit at her brother. Honestly, he was such a little kid sometimes. (Not that she'd change that fact for the _world_.)

"Oh, who's this?" Stampy asked, tilting his head at the wolf hybrid.

"Ahh, that's right, you guys haven't met Jace yet. Stacy, Stampy, Dan, meet Jace- he's my twin brother," Jesse introduced, Jace flailing his arm in a cheerful wave as Cassie stood back up, having to duck out of the way as his hand went sailing through the space her face had been in.

"Oh- I didn't know you had a twin brother! It's lovely to meet you!" Stampy chirped, patting the wolf hybrid on the shoulder. Jace perked up, tail wagging away.

Cassie smirked a bit. "Careful- pet him too much and he'll start following you around all day."

Stampy grinned back a bit, although it _was_ tinged with some nervous energy. "Ah, is that so?"

Jesse rolled her eyes a bit, making the YouTubers all chuckle. "Oh you have _no_ idea. You know how Lukas likes being petted? This guy is _so_ much more high-maintenance." Absentmindedly, she reached up and started petting him, the wolf hybrid relaxing with a dreamy look on his face.

Radar drew level with them, making Jesse snatch her hand back and Jace pout playfully at her. "Oh, Radar, this is Stacy Plays, Stampy Cat, and Dan 'The Diamond Minecart'," she introduced them. Stampy and Stacy both waved, while Dan saluted slightly, smiling pleasantly at the 16-year-old. (Yes, Jesse had a 16-year-old as her intern. Despite his age, he'd had the best 'job' application.)

Radar beamed cheerfully, nodding at them.

Stacy let out a long sigh and walked over to Wink, who had paused in front of Jesse and was panting away happily (even as Winslow hissed away at the dog on the ground). "Oh, Wink. Here, Jesse- give him a bone and he'll calm right down." And Stacy passed a couple bones to Jesse, who took them before she crouched down, smiling at the puppy. She reached out and patted him on the head, the dog looking up and nuzzling into Jesse's hand.

Things escalated quite quickly from there until the puppy was literally lying on his back, letting out little near- _cooing_ sounds as Jesse petted him.

"Huh. I guess you didn't need the bones," Stacy said, grinning at Jesse cheerfully. "He likes you."

"Heh, yeah, I guess he does," Jesse said, grinning down at Wink, who went back to Stacy and allowed her to pet him. She pulled out the three bones Stacy had just handed her. "You want the rest of these back?"

"Nah, hang onto them," Stacy said, shrugging as she straightened back up, "I've got TONS. You never know when you're gonna need to tame a wolf."

Jesse shrugged, pulling out a single bone and handing it to Jace (who happily took it, biting right into it cheerfully). "Well, thanks!"

"I imagine you're terribly busy, so we won't keep you guys," Stampy said to Jesse, "so we won't keep you. But you should come and see what we're working on because, it's pretty cool." And he grinned, Dan slinging an arm over Stampy's shoulder, hair now a rosy pink with his own identical grin.

"Yeah, what Stampy said," Stacy said cheerfully.

Dan nodded, gesturing over his shoulder. "Anyways, our place is by the gate."

"Will do!" Jesse grinned, grinning at them. "See you guys later!"

The YouTubers grinned, and walked off. At the last second, Stampy twisted around in Dan's grip and flailed his arm. "Bye Cassie! Bye Jace!" he chirped. "Bye, Reuben!"

Cassie looked somewhat cheered by that, giving Jesse a small smile. "Well, that... went a lot better than I'd expected," she said, meekly.

"Damn right," Jesse said cheerfully, walking by a small group of parrots with the others, before stopping next to a thing of Reuben when he was still a pig.

Reuben buried his face into Jesse's side, hugging her tightly and making her look down at him. "Love youuuuu," he mumbled into her side, arms tightening around her a little bit.

"Awww, love ya too, kiddo," Jesse told him, making the pig hybrid giggle a bit cheerfully.

"Ohmygosh it's you," and the guy who was standing there practically danced over to the group, Radar looking up at the guy that was approaching.

"Oh, yep, it's me," Jesse told him, smiling a bit. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh wow, this is actually perfect," he said, grinning at her in an excited way, "for Founding Day this year we're picking a pig to play the part of Reuben on the float!" and he gestured at the three pigs oinking away behind him.

Radar beamed, clapping his hands together a little bit. "Oh, that's really cute!"

"Right?" and the guy grinned. "Would you two," he looked at Jesse and Reuben, "be interested in... maybe helping me pick? I mean, who knows Reuben better than Jesse and Reuben himself, right?"

Cassie hummed thoughtfully at the idea. "Yeah, talk about knowledgeable casting."

"It would be an _honor_ ," the guy continued, "to say that the pig was hand-chosen by Jesse and Reuben for the casting part."

Jesse looked down at the little pig hybrid, tilting her head to one side. "Y'alright with that, buddy?" she asked, cheerfully.

Reuben nodded. "Mmhm!" he chirped.

Jesse looked back up at the guy, smiling. "I'd love to! Seems like the least I could do."

He grinned, throwing his hands into the air. "Oh, that's fantastic! Thank you so much."

Jesse turned to face the pigs, which had all lined up into a straight line. "Alright, let's see 'em!" Jesse said cheerfully, scooping Reuben up into a tight hug and making him squeal happily.

"Okay piggies," the guy said to the pigs happily, "show Jesse your good side!" He then walked behind them, gesturing at the first pig, who tilted his head. "That's Esteban... Smushy Cutecheeks..."

Cassie snorted a bit at that, finding a floating cloud nearby _utterly_ fascinating.

"And Lord von Thunderpork VI."

Now _Jace_ was tittering, and even Jesse was fighting a grin as she set Reuben down to let him scrutinize the other pigs. "Well, what do you think, Reuben?" she asked, lips twitching away.

Reuben stared at the pigs, scrutinizing them carefully, before saying, cheerfully, "I like Lord von Thunderpork VI the best. He looks super regal."

Jesse excused herself to go laugh in a corner.

* * *

After the guy had thanked the both of them profusely, and Jesse had stopped giggling madly in her corner, the four of them (five if you counted Radar) moved on, Jesse pausing next to a patch of sugar cane and punching through one of them. "Sugar!" she said cheerfully.

Cassie grinned, amused for some reason. "Don't let Jace eat it."

"Okay, I wouldn't just eat _raw_ sugarcane-" Jace protested, a broad grin still plastered across his face.

Reuben moved off on his own as Cassie teased, "Well, I dunno, I wouldn't put it past you..."

He slugged her on the shoulder, sticking his tongue out at the redhead. "You're mean, you know that?" he told her, pouting at her.

She just stuck her tongue out at her right back.

Reuben came back, popping an egg into Jesse's hand.

Jesse looked down at the egg, blinking a bit in bemusement, before back up at Reuben. "Well, uh, thanks, kidaroo, but what's the egg for?" she asked, smiling slightly at the little pig hybrid.

"The chicken over there laid one. I didn't want to waste it," Reuben said cheerfully.

"I am _telling_ you, Stampy- it _needs_ to be pumpkin pie."

The five of them all looked over almost simultaneously at Stacy's voice, to see Stacy and Stampy having a sort of faceoff. Dan was just watching the two with a slightly bewildered look on his face and a weird mix of green and orange. He shrugged a bit when he spotted the group staring at them.

"But cake is the best!" Stampy protested. "And I would know, I have it every morning for breakfast!" and he crossed his arms, Stacy rolling her eyes a bit at the statement.

"Uh, there... some sort of problem here, guys?" Jesse asked, sounding slightly concerned as the five of them approached the YouTubers.

"Yeah, you guys weren't... doing anything wrong for ten minutes." Cassie blinked at the statement she'd just made. "... okay that came out wrong."

"Hello, Jesse!" Stampy said cheerfully, "we heard about this Founding Day celebration of yours and we thought we'd make some sweets!"

"Yeah," and Jesse glanced over at Stacy to see her putting her hands on her hips and shooting Stampy a look, "and NOW I'm trying to convince Mr. Stampy here to make the right decision and pick pumpkin pie."

Stampy sighed, turning right back to Stacy. "There you go with those leading presentations again."

"Just..." Stacy let out a long sigh. "Not everyone likes _cake,_ Stampy."

"Oh, and pumpkin pie is the _universally_ loved food? I think not."

"Why don't we have both?" Jesse quickly interrupted before the argument could go on for too much longer. (Dan looked relieved at Jesse's intervention.)

"Oh, that's a wonderful idea," Stampy exclaimed, "but... we don't have enough ingredients."

"Probably a good thing, Jace would just get a sugar hype," Cassie grinned at Jace. (He proceeded to punch her on the shoulder.)

"It's true," Stacy deadpanned, before reaching into her pockets and abruptly throwing a huge cloud of ingredients into the air. Jesse's six arms shot out and caught various ingredients rapidly before they could all fall to the floor and tucking them into her pocket.

Jace and Jesse high-fived without even looking at each other.

"Yes, I fear we're gonna be debating in circles all day otherwise, heh," and Stampy gave a grin and a shake of the head.

Jesse quickly headed to a nearby crafting table, pulling out the ingredients and staring down at the table, before going ahead and using all of the ingredients to make one pumpkin pie and one cake.

"Oooh, they'll be surprised!" Radar grinned at Jesse cheerfully as she handed one to Cassie, before they went back to the group of YouTubers.

"He said cake," Jesse singsonged.

"She said pie," Cassie grinned.

"I said," Jesse said cheerfully, "why don't we have _both!_ " And the two of them brandished the cake and pie, Radar grinning at them. (Jace grinned at the two sweets. Reuben grinned as well.)

"Oh, well-" Stampy took the cake, grinning in delight. "This is very surprising!"

"Yeah, that's awesome!" Stacy said cheerfully, grinning down at the pie Jesse had just handed her. "How'd you do that?"

Dan grinned suddenly. "Hey, didn't Reuben come walking by with an egg earlier?"

"Yeah, we found a couple extra ingredients around town. No big deal," Jesse said brightly.

"Well, that's fantastic, Jesse!" Stampy grinned at the petite girl. "Thank you so much!"

Stacy beamed as well. "Thanks, this is perfect!"

* * *

Jesse was eating a slice of pie, while Cassie and Radar were eating some cake. Reuben was sharing a bit of the pie with Jesse, while Jace had run off to go wait by the mineshaft.

Jesse turned to Stacy, high-fiving the brown-haired girl, before going ahead and high-fiving Dan and Stampy as well, all of them grinning at each other cheerfully. "Hey, this was great, but I gotta run. Petra's waiting. I'll talk to you guys later, okay?" she asked, smiling brightly as she strolled away.

The three YouTubers waved after her. "Byyyyye!" Stampy sing-songed, Wink panting happily at the bottom of the stand.

Jesse and the rest of the group started strolling towards the mineshaft, with the huge woolen pickaxe marking the entrance. "Well, we haven't really seen Petra in a while, so this'll be fun," Jesse said cheerfully.

"Yeah, of course!" Cassie grinned.

"EEEEEEE!" Jesse jumped a bit, before turning to see a fangirl from quite a while back holding her hand up for a high-five. "Jesse! Jesse! Give me five!"

The spider hybrid glanced at Cassie and Reuben, both of whom shrugged, before nodding and strolling over to the fangirl, slapping her hand in a high-five. The girl's eyes widened, and she jumped up and down in a very hyperactive way. "Eeeeeee! You high-fived me. ME! You _totally_ made my day. You rock!" And the fangirl dashed off.

Jesse looked sheepishly over at Cassie, who just grinned and shrugged a bit. "Hey, I'm not the one who saved the world from the Witherstorm."

"Agh, knew we shouldn't have told you about it. Now every Founding Day you just rub it in my face," Jesse teased, making Cassie cackle.

"And here we are at the mines!" Radar told Jesse cheerfully, Jace hopping around in little circles like a hot potato, already suited up in an old set of tin armor. (If you can't tell, he was REALLY excited to see Petra.)

"Nice. Thanks for walking with us," Jesse told the teenager cheerfully.

"Oh no, thank YOU, Jesse. It was a pleasure watching you work, it truly was," Radar said enthusiastically as she dug into a nearby chest, grabbing a modified iron chestplate for herself and one normal one for Cassie (who grinned and nodded in thanks), "Stopping to help all those people, helping them prepare for Founding Day... very inspiring."

Jesse beamed at him, before popping on the chestplate and leaning over, beginning to pop on some armor for Reuben (who whined a bit playfully). "I'll, uh, keep watch on things here while you're gone," Radar said, rubbing his head anxiously. "Off doing your... adventure-y things." The boy paused for a moment. "Risking your life." Another pause. "Spitting in fate's eye."

Jesse laughed, hopping back to her full height (which was not at all impressive). "Got all the faith in the world for ya, buddy. You got this," she told him cheerfully. "Besides, Jace, Reuben and I are hybrids. We kinda 'spit in fate's eyes', as you put it, all the time."

Radar grinned at the joke. "... thanks, Jesse. I won't let you down."

Jesse gave him a nod, before the group started descending the stairs.

"Bye! Have a good time!" Radar called after them.

Jesse turned around, marching down the stairs backwards. "Don't we always?" she called up to him, grinning.

* * *

 **A/N: Bit longer than I was expecting, but we've finally gotten through Beacontown! I hope y'all enjoyed :3 And I will see you... technically later today since it is 12:36 AM where I am. xD**

 **I'm making a let's play for Season 2 on YT this weekend (possibly tomorrow), don't forget to check that out! :3**

 **LunarStarsMoons: (laughs) YEP! / Heheheh xD / Indeed she does.**

 **P*nis *ss t*tties: Thank you for the compliment :3 / Um, do you think you could change the username, though? It makes me slightly uncomfortable...**

 **Infernius Flashfire: (laughs)**

 **RapidSammi: Went better than expected, so that's good, I guess xD**

 **LittleAngelbun: (laughs) / x3 / (laughs) / Indeed they are. Lizzie is off with Joel, and Dan is thereeeee~**

 **BeliTheGhoti0304: x3 / Hmmm... sheep. xD**

 **NoItsBecky: Actually, it went surprisingly well, considering all the ways it could've gone wrong xD**

 **RavenBlaze4850: ? / Hehehe xD / (laughs) / Knowing that I act a bit like him sometimes... about 16 xD**

 **S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Yes, yes he did xD / x3**

 **AquaK13: True xD / Hehehehe xD That's for me to know and for you to theorize about. / Yes, but Jesse also took care of him. So it easily could turn into a mother-kid situation. / x3 / Hehehehe xD**

 **Emily The Avenger: DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN!**

 **J.M.M: Ah.**

 **TheAmberShadow: Yeah, about two x3 / Nope. He was about three or four back when he got resurrected- since he was super smart as a pig, he got brought back as a super smart kid. Think Matilda. / The Mysterious Benedict Society. / (laughs) / (laughs)**

 **Jack: No spoilers. / Hehehe xD / Oh, wow! I did see the post, but I didn't think about that. That'd be pretty cool!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	4. Same Old Petra

Jesse patted her armor down as she walked into the mines, Reuben hopping around like a little Mexican jumping bean while Jace and Cassie adjusted their own armor.

"Petra?" Jesse called out, putting her uppermost set of hands to her mouth and calling into the mines, the only audible sound the sound of pickaxes clinking methodically into rock.

Nothing.

The phone in Jesse's pocket buzzed again, making her glare down at it. "Ugh, this thing..."

"Huh..." and Jace frowned. "She _did_ tell us to meet right here, didn't she?"

"Yeah, definitely... Petra!" Cassie shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. Still no response as the group began to meander away a bit, looking around for her. "Where are you...?"

Suddenly, three phones buzzed simultaneously- Jesse's, Cassie's, and Jace's. (Jace had gotten a phone to communicate with Petra more often, and Cassie got a phone because sometimes, kids just wanna have a phone to play with.)

Jace immediately pulled out his own phone, checking his messages. Immediately, his expression changed to one of confusion.

"Is that Petra?" Cassie asked, tugging out her own phone to check her own messages. Jesse didn't even bother taking out hers, knowing who it was going to be already.

"No, it's... well, it's this." Jace turned the phone around to show the other three, who crowded around it to get a look. (Well, four if you counted Winslow, who was crouching to stare at the thing as well.)

The message he'd just received read,

 _Unknown: kfdlajknfaejirupwelkrNVw vsjdfKLFJD980999 FJEIOQ_.

Cassie blinked a bit at that. "What in the world...?" she took a glance at her own phone, even as Jace's phone buzzed again, another message popping up on the screen.

 _Unknown:_ _Whoops. Butt-texted you. Sorry._

Jace turned the phone around to take a look himself, smothering a small grin when he saw what the person had just sent him as Cassie frowned at her own phone screen. "Someone just texted me 'sup'."

"Do you not recognize the number?"

"No..."

Jesse's new phone buzzing once again, and the moans of zombies, punctuated the conversation, and they all looked up to see about four zombies approaching them.

" _Agh!_ " and all of them jumped a bit, Cassie and Jace hastily putting their phones away and whipping out their sword and axe simultaneously.

"Stupid fffffffffffff" Cassie's eyes widened as she dragged out the 'f' when Jesse gave her a pointed glare and then pointed at Reuben, who blinked innocently at the other two. "fffffffffffffffffffffffizzy zombies!" Cassie finished, as Jesse pulled out her own swords.

Yes, I said _swords_. Jesse was now holding two sword in her uppermost set of arms, lower set poised and ready for attack.

Dual wielding is fun.

"Ahhh... I kinda missed this," Jesse said cheerfully, a big grin coming over her face.

Reuben dropped to all fours, glancing around, while Cassie gave her a blank look. Jace just shrugged, smiling at his twin. He couldn't say the same, seeing as he usually tagged along with Petra on his adventures, and Cassie had less duties so she was usually going off on her own sometimes to go do some mining or some fighting. She had once brought back an enchanted bow and popped it onto her wall casually.

Yeah, she still hadn't said if she'd gotten it from a skeleton or not.

Jace suddenly gagged, clamping a hand over his nose. The other girls winced a bit as well, making a face at the smell. "Uh, smell- not so much," Jesse continued, before the four of them charged into battle.

Cassie lashed out with her axe, slicing straight into her zombie and slamming it back, before raising her axe and smashing straight through its skull, the thing puffing into smoke upon the second impact. (Well, it helped that the axe was enchanted, I guess.)

Jace growled as his own zombie approached, before ducking and rolling out of the way rapidly. He spun around on the floor, legs lashing out and sending the zombie to the floor, before doing a backwards flip out of the way and driving his sword into its body, whereupon it immediately died.

Reuben dove over Jace's sword at his own zombie, before leaping into the air and doing a little backflip, slamming his feet into the zombie's face and knocked it backwards. Immediately, he landed and dove right back at the zombie, slamming a fist into the zombie and knocking it back a bit, before darting out of the way of a slow swing and then bringing his arm straight into the zombie with a punch. The zombie staggered, and Reuben took the opportunity to deliver three blows to points on the leg that on a normal person would cause maximum discomfort, but with the zombie caused the actual leg to buckle, and sent the zombie down. He then raised his foot and slammed it down right on the zombie's head in an unelegant (but highly effective) stomp, and the zombie puffed into smoke.

Jesse turned back to her own zombie, which had slowly been approaching this whole time. She walked forward to meet it now and swiped her sword twice, one blade smashing straight into the zombie, while the other one was enough to help tip the zombie over with the help of the first blow. She then twirled the blades, brought them up over her head, and drove them into the zombie's body, making the thing puff into a cloud of smoke.

"Look at that," and Jesse started a bit, turning around. "Punctual _and_ kicking butt. Nice."

The spider hybrid grinned, sheathing her sword again. The others did the same with their own weapons and grinning at the person who'd just showed up. "Hey to you too, Petra," Jesse told her cheerfully. "Can't say the same thing to you about being 'punctual', though," and she jokingly made quotation marks around it to show she wasn't actually upset or anything- just joking around. "What happened?"

"Oh, some unknown number texted a few minutes ago and went 'Ya there Peets' to me. I tried to block the number, but the block button was all grayed out. Weird, ri-?" Petra began, walking over towards the small group on the other end of the floor.

"Petraaaaaa~!" and Jace came bolting across the floor and pretty much full-on tackled the approaching Petra in a hug, the Blaze hybrid laughing and automatically adjusting the gold ring that she was currently wearing on her left ring finger. The ring of gold on her black sleeve glinted a bit, cheerfully.

"Whoa there, Jace, good to see you too." She gave him a kiss on the lips before grinning at Jesse, Jace beaming like a ray of sunshine in spring. "Hey there, Cassie, Reuben. And hey, Jesse." Petra's grin widened at Jesse's name. "Glad to see you remember how to use your sword. I was worried you'd gotten rusty." She came to a stop in front of the rest of the group, Jesse resting a hand on her hip as Petra continued, "I can't even _imagine_ that life. Managing people, signing papers... _bleh_." And she grinned at Jesse to show she meant no harm.

"I really do miss this." Jesse gestured at the whole group that was standing there, all of them beaming cheerfully. "Y'know. _Us._ Adventuring together, facing the unknown..." all of her arms crossed, the spider hybrid giving Petra a warm smile. "I wish we could do this more often."

Petra raised an eyebrow, and I will say this, she's much better at it now than she was 7 years ago- one eyebrow moved, while the other one remained mostly still. Mostly. "Except, I'm gonna have a hard time being seen with someone wearing such dingy armor." She reached out and knocked on it, making a very metallic 'clunk'ing noise. " _What_ is that? Iron?"

Jesse rolled her eyes, uncrossing her arms. "I _didn't_ want to dent the good stuff. So what?"

Cassie grinned, gesturing at the sword in Petra's hand. "And look who's talking with an 'iron sword'," she teased. "Where's the fancy gold one with all the enchantments?"

"Hey, yeah," and Jesse looked over at Petra, raising her eyebrow a bit. (Reuben noticed the way Jace's eyes had widened the _tiniest_ bit, before he looked away, as if looking around for zombies.) "Can't remember the last time I saw you without it..."

Petra bit her lip, rubbing her head. "I, uh..."

"Uh, guys-!" Jace exclaimed, pointing over Jesse's shoulder. Jesse twisted to see a small army of zombies approaching- about ten or twelve.

Petra grinned, readying her sword and allowing flames to shoot up off the blade, dancing wildly in the dimness of the mineshaft and making her already-glowing gold eyes gleam in the darkness. Jesse glanced over at her, before drawing her own swords again. Cassie flicked out her axe, while Jace readied his sword again, Reuben getting into a readied position.

"Ready for more?" Petra asked, grinning at the zombies, before charging at one and driving her sword into it, immediately making the thing burst into flames. "Ha, too slow, zombies! Typical."

Jace bared his teeth with a grin, jumping right over the flaming zombie that Petra had just caused and using his sword to tip it like a domino straight into the one behind it, setting that one on fire. He landed with a parkour roll before driving his blade through it, making it explode into sparking dust. He blinked rapidly as a spark landed on his nose. "Ah, too hot." And he patted his face hastily.

Cassie charged straight forward at a cluster of three zombies, one of them a little further ahead than the others. She drew back with her axe and swung it like a baseball bat, sending it flying backwards into the other two and knocking all three of them to the floor like a set of pins. She then leaped into the air, lifting her axe high into the air, before bringing it down in a hammering, crushing blow, smashing through all three of the zombies in a single blow.

Reuben darted forward at a single zombie (only one- Jesse was a little overprotective and didn't let him handle more than one at a time if she could help it) and slammed his foot into it's knee in a perfect sideways kick, knocking the knee so that it bent backwards instead of forwards. As the zombie crumpled, the pig hybrid drew his arm back and delivered a flurry of blows to the zombie's midriff, cracking several bones in the process. (Well, but zombie's bones are pretty much already breaking...) With that, the zombie toppled over and puffed into smoke.

Jesse charged forward, swinging one sword and knocking a zombie back into another one, before lunging forward without skipping a beat and using her other arm's momentum to stab straight into them, knocking them backwards a few steps. She did two quick rolls out of the way of a couple zombies, before swinging her original first arm around and smashing through two zombies at once. She spun around on the spot and used the momentum of the second sword to jab straight through another zombie, the undead creature exploding into smoke, and then charging forward and knocking the last zombie to the ground, the thing exploding.

"Ha," Jesse grinned smugly at Petra. "Haven't lost my step yet." And with that, she twirled the blades into the air and slid them into the sheathes on her back in a smooth, fluid motion.

Petra grinned, turning back around to face Jesse. "Well, ya sure showed me. Gotta say, I _really_ appreciate you making it on time. Means a lot to me."

Reuben beamed, butting his head into Petra's waist and making her look down at the little pig hybrid with a grin. "Hey, Reuben. You got pretty good at this since I last saw you."

"Well, of course I'd be on time. Why wouldn't I?" the spider hybrid asked, lacing her fingers behind the back of her head in a fluid way. Her middle set of arms tugged down the iron chestplate, while the lowest set placed their hands on her hips.

Jesse grinned as she dusted herself off a bit, while Petra reached up and rubbed her head awkwardly, her glowing eyes dying down. "I... sometimes worry you don't have time for your friends anymore. I know you enjoy your _job_ , or... whatever."

The spider hybrid immediately frowned a bit, expression getting a little more solemn. Petra spotted the look and hastily put her hands into the air. "Not- that I'm trying to make you feel guilty or anything."

"Aw, c'mon," Jesse said, moving forward so that all of them were standing in a rough little semicircle, "you know you guys are more important to me than anyone else in the world."

"Okay," and Petra gave her eyes a little roll, even as a big grin crept over her face, "now you're just trying to flatter me."

"Are you saying you don't like it?" Cassie joked, grinning at Petra. Jesse couldn't help but smile at the duo. Knowing how the two of them had gotten along at the start... well, they'd come a long way.

Petra grinned, before her smile faded quizzically. "But, uh... can't help but notice that we're missing... one, two, _three...?_ "

"Axel has Boom Town duties," Jesse began.

"Olivia's grading something or other in Redstonia," Cassie chimed in.

"And Lukas-" Jace added.

"- is writing," Petra finished for Jace, sheathing her own iron sword with an irritated look on her face before crossing her arms. "Man, our friends have gotten lame."

Jesse winced slightly. Cassie also winced a bit, glancing down at Reuben (who was frowning a bit), while Jace averted his gaze, rubbing his elbow awkwardly. That was a _slightly_ harsh way of putting it...

"I swear, if our old fans saw what we're doing now..." Petra let out a little sigh at the look on Jesse, Cassie, Reuben, and Jace's face. "I'm just sayin', I don't care how good Lukas's next book is- it's not exactly slaying a Witherstorm, ya know?"

"Well, don't get bummed," Jesse said, smiling at Petra. "Even without them, _we're_ having fun, right?"

Petra slowly uncrossed her arms, expression lightening a bit. "Yeah... that's a good point." She marched forward a few steps and punched Jesse on her iron-clad shoulder, making a rather loud _clunk_ ing sound. "At least we've got the cool people here." And she looped an arm around Jace, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek that made the wolf hybrid let out a loud yapping sound cheerfully.

A moment later, her expression changed slightly to a more serious one. "We'll worry about them later, I guess. We gotta hurry." And she started walking away, Jace stumbling before catching himself and trotting after her.

Jesse tilted her head, glancing at Cassie (who simply shrugged), before looking back at Petra. "What exactly are we looking for down here?" she asked, curiously.

"I'll... tell you when we find it," Petra said, hesitating for only a moment. "Just trust me, it's important."

Jesse gave her a cheery thumbs' up, before a strange... 'bleating' sound came from the other end of the tunnel, making several miners look up. Jesse looked up just in time to see it darting off to the left.

The spider hybrid frowned slightly. "Whaaaaat was that?" she asked, slowly.

Petra stared after it for a moment, before grinning and removing her arm from Jace's shoulder (making him pout a little). "C'mon! Let's race!" And then she took off down the hallway, Jesse glancing at her.

"Wait- what?!"

"It's monster-huntin' time!" Petra yelled over her shoulder, jumping into the air as Blaze Rods spiraled into the air and started jet-propelling her down the hallway.

Jesse, Jace, Cassie, and Reuben all exchanged slightly startled looks... before Jesse grinned and shook her head a little bit.

And then she dropped to all eights, Cassie leaping onto her back with Reuben squeezing on (Jesse had discovered through some 'accidental experimentation' that she could fit two people on her back at a squeeze, especially if the second one was as tiny as Reuben), before bolting forward, Jace dropping to all fours and practically galloping after his girlfriend(sort of fiancee? Jesse wasn't entirely sure about that yet), a slow smile spreading over her face as she did so.

Same old Petra.

* * *

 **A/N: Oooh yes so much hype x3**

 **S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Made all of them lol xD**

 **TheRealRedGaming: Hello, and tell Silver to never do that again because that was the most awkward thing Toni and I have ever had to deal with.**

 **LunarStarsMoons: (laughs) That was Silver, apparently. / Alrighty :3 / (laughs) Indeed he has been added. If Wink is indeed a he. I think he's a he. / Thanks fam :3**

 **Infernius Flashfire: I'm glad too xD / No spoilers.**

 **Boggie445: (laughs) Most likely my Jesse'll be like "Welp, it's kind of about time since I've been doing it so freaking much."**

 **Emily The Avenger: (laughs)**

 **AquaK13: Yes indeedy x3 / Oh great now you've got that in MY head, too xD / (chuckles) Yep. / Hehehehe :3 / Thanks, and bai!**

 **TheAmberShadow: (grins) / (laughs) Indeed, that's true. / (laughs) I actually chose Esteban my first time through. It was fun. xD**

 **Jack: Uh, yep! Yep I do :3 / My reason is because he's Yuri Lowenthal. Yuri Lowenthal has a trend of playing a guy who seems nice and then turns out to be evil(case in point, Clive Dove from Professor Layton and the Unwound Future and Mercury Black from RWBY), or someone who's just a bad guy at one point (Randall Ascot from Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask), so... I don't trust him, sorry Radar, I'm sure you're adorable xD / (grins)**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	5. The Great (Llama) Race

Jesse went scuttling past a miner, who actually looked up to watch Cassie and Reuben sitting on Jesse's back as she scuttled along at full speed down the tunnel. Jace was bounding along beside her, giving his sister a huge grin. "This is great!" he shouted to her.

"Yeah?" Jesse tensed her limbs and launched herself into the air, soaring neatly over a miner, before landing on the other side of the hole and continuing to scuttle along at high speed, the miner she'd just leaped over watching her with interest. She often went around town to talk to people, but there was still about _half_ of the town's population who'd never actually seen her extra arms.

Or her in action, really. That should also probably be noted.

"Hey, it's Jesse!" one of the miners called out to the spider hybrid, "What's up? Good to see ya!"

Jesse grinned at the miner as she passed, Reuben waving and Cassie just shaking her head with this amused grin on her face at the whole thing.

Jesse dodged neatly to the right as a minecart came rushing out of a tunnel on the left, turning and running alongside Jesse for a moment. The spider hybrid glanced up at the miner, who looked back down at her with a cake in his hand. She gave him a friendly grin and continued scuttling along at high speed, before another minecart came rushing in from the right, on a collision course with the three of them-

Jace simply leaped over it, but Jesse did a sort of backflip, shooting a huge rope at the ceiling of the tunnel and retracting it neatly. The three of them did a 180-degree-turn in midair, before Jesse landed on the ceiling of the tunnel and continued scuttling along.

"I _still_ get excited when you do this! Woooo!" Cassie cheered with an almost ecstatic laugh, Reuben giggling cheerfully at the bright-red-haired woman behind him. Winslow did _not_ look very happy though.

It was a good thing Cassie'd gotten into the habit of wearing shoulderpads under her cardigan.

"You and Dad both," Jesse shouted back, grinning as she kept scuttling along.

"Everyone get down!" a miner shouted, making Jesse look down... well, up for her current orientation, in time to see Jace pelting straight at a flashing block of TNT with miners scattering everywhere, "It's gonna blow!"

"Well, that is what TNT does," Reuben said, innocently.

Jesse and Cassie may or may not have gotten a fit of the giggles at that comment.

Jesse was completely out of range, but Jace wasn't. His eyes narrowed as he kept running at it- and then, at the last second, he leaped into the air, the explosion of the TNT sending out a small shockwave and launching him high enough so that he was almost level with Jesse (whereupon he grinned at them) before neatly dropping back to the ground, continuing his run as he did so.

Jesse flipped back onto the floor as they exited the tunnel into a much more spacious cavern, skidding a step or two before coming to a stop next to Petra and Jace, both of whom were stopped next to what looked like a large hole. Jace was panting a bit, as Jesse was, while Petra was simply looking around.

"Ha!" Jesse giggled, letting out a little sigh as she panted a bit. (Reuben patted her on the head, running a finger through the part she'd dyed pink. She'd gotten bored one day and so Cassie had whipped out some dye and began to work on her hair, bored as well. Things somehow managed to escalate until there was random dyes all over her bed and she'd gotten a huge portion of her front 'bang' dyed a lovely, vibrant amaranth pink. Not that she minded, it looked nice.) "Wooooo..." And she let out a little laugh as she tried to catch her breath.

"Alright," Petra said softly, still scanning the hole she was next to with Blaze Rods hovering around her, beginning to vanish slightly from how hard she was concentrating on looking around, "where'd you go?"

Cassie gave Petra a weird look. "Where'd _what_ go?" she questioned, slowly.

Petra didn't answer, but her eyes widened a second later with a grin coming over her face, and she pointed straight down into the hole. " _Ha!_ Look down there!"

Jesse looked. Just in time to hear that weird bleating/grumbling sound again and to see a black shadowy thing dart down a different 'hallway' area down in the pit.

"So you're really not gonna tell me what we're chasing?" Jesse asked, catching her breath and craning her neck back to meet Petra's eyes, the Blaze hybrid grinning widely back at her sort-of-fiancee and the spider hybrid. (Who I guess was her sort-of-sister-in-law now...)

"Nope!" And the Blaze Rods around Petra spiraled back to life as she leaped straight down into the pit. "The mystery's what makes it fun! C'mon!"

Well, she wasn't _wrong_.

Jesse gave her eyes a little roll, before launching herself into the pit as well, Jace simply hopping straight down along a series of ledges that made an impromptu, overly large staircase. Jesse attached herself to the wall, limbs bending and absorbing the force of impact (although Reuben still let out a little yelp and Cassie gasped slightly), before leaping back down to the floor, where Petra was hovering and turning around to see Jace and Jesse land behind her.

The Blaze hybrid's eyes widened, and she soundlessly pointed over their shoulders.

All four of them swiveled their heads to see some zombies lurching towards them, groaning insistently. Petra jet-propelled herself down the hallway, Jace doing a backwards jump before galloping away, while Jesse simply rotated on the spot and then shot down the hallway after them.

"Hey, Jesse! Wall spiders!" Petra shouted to Jesse, whose head glanced up to see spiders beginning to crawl towards them, although their aggression seemed to be mostly directed...

At Cassie.

"Oh, shhhhhhhhh" Cassie glanced down at Jesse, who was giving her a harsh glare now, "shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhazam."

"Can you talk 'em down?" Jace shouted over his shoulder at Jesse.

The spider hybrid shrugged in midrun, making Reuben giggle a bit as her upper shoulderblades jostled his legs a bit. "Well, maybe, but with Cassie on my back right now it's a gamble."

"Do it!"

Jesse's right eye glowed red, and she let out a loud hiss, chest vibrating slightly as she did so. A few of the spiders stopped at the order she gave. Most of the others didn't.

Cassie winced a bit upon seeing that. "Sorry."

"Well, it's not _your_ fault you're not a hybrid."

There was a loud hiss, and the three of them looked up in time to see a spider doing a flip in midair, flying straight at Cassie.

" _Aaaaah!_ " and Cassie automatically whipped out her axe, yanking Reuben to her chest and lashing out it, smashing through it and making it puff into dust in a single hit. More and more of them started creeping out at Jesse, staring blankly at the spider hybrid but definitely hissing at Cassie.

Reuben peeked around Cassie and yelped. "There's more!"

Cassie looked over her shoulder in time to see a small army of said spiders scuttling after them.

"Uh... Jesse?!" Cassie squeaked, hands tightening on her axe.

The spider hybrid glanced behind her as well, before abruptly rearing onto her hind legs (making Cassie and Reuben yelp), shooting a strand of string at the ceiling. The literal _second_ it connected, she used it to swing herself onto a nearby wall, racing along and glancing behind her to see the spiders beginning to follow them onto the wall. The moment one of them actually managed to get onto the wall, the spider hybrid flipped herself onto the ceiling, then dropped to the floor and continued racing along, the spiders behind her becoming confused and getting muddled up on where they were supposed to go for a moment.

Jesse spotted a break in the floor, lava bubbling in that break, and she tensed her limbs before soaring neatly over the small river of lava, landing neatly on the other side and continuing to scuttle rapidly past. A spider stupidly climbed straight over the edge and toppled straight into the lava, causing the spiders to come to a stop, hissing after them.

Another bleating sound rang out, and the three of them (Jace, Jesse, Petra) continued racing along. "There! It went into that cave!" Petra shouted, pointing at the shadow of the creature bolting straight into a cavern.

"On it!" Jace shouted back.

Petra glanced at them... before soaring straight through a curtain of lava (making both Jace and Jesse flinch a little bit and dodge to avoid getting splashed with the stuff) and shooting along the lower path like a bullet. "Annnnd Petra's in the home stretch!" she shouted up to them, grinning.

There was the odd hiss of spiders, and Cassie looked up- to see a dozen of them creeping right at her, although some were now chasing Petra- and dropped from to the ceiling the ground, hissing angrily at her.

The Blaze hybrid grunted in frustration, whipping her sword out fluidly. "Agh! Jeez, more of these guys!" she groaned, angrily.

Jesse glanced down at the lower path at Petra's groan, before fluidly adjusting her path so that she landed on the path in front of Petra. Jace followed a second later, growling as he charged right at the spiders coming at Petra. "Reuben, Cassie- Triangular!" she snapped, voice filling with authority.

Reuben nodded, before catapulting himself right off of Jesse's back at a spider. He landed smack on top one of them, before jumping up and down and stomping on it repeatedly, killing it in three stomps before whirling around as Cassie rolled right off of Jesse's back, the spider hybrid snapping back to a standing position and whipping out her swords.

Cassie rolled straight into another spider, swiping outwards with her axe and literally slicing a thing in half before spinning back to her feet, axe held out defensively as Winslow hissed angrily on her shoulder. A spider came flying at her, and she swung the axe forcefully, knocking the spider back into Reuben-

Reuben grabbed the spider by a couple of its legs, holding it in place, before doing a fierce side kick and smashing right through its head, scattering spider blood and a few spider eyes on the floor before the spider exploded into smoke. (Ugh, gross.) Another one crept up behind him, but he ducked it and let it sail straight at Jesse-

Who twirled her swords, reversed the handles, and lashed out, scissor-cutting the spider into four sections and making it puff into smoke, before another spider landed in front of them, and another, and another-

"Agh! It's gonna take forever to get through these _stupid_ webheads!" Petra snapped, the five of them backing up a little bit as they regarded the spiders. "Um, no offense Jesse."

"None taken, these ones are seriously idiotic. They see their friends dying and they keep coming for more," Jesse said, glaring at the other spiders. "I mean, _come_ on, use your common sense."

"Maybe we can seal them off somehow?" Jace asked, hesitantly.

Petra's gaze changed, and she grinned. "Like... maybe a little lava." And with that, she raised her hand, contorted it... and then swiped it sideways.

The lava, which had already begun to follow her hand, gushed out over a huge gravel block and splashed in a rough sort of river over the floor, blocking the spiders off.

"Well.. that should do the trick-" Cassie was cut off by Petra spinning around on the spot and bolting off again.

"Ha! See ya guys!"

"Awwww, no fair!" Reuben complained, racing off after Petra. Jesse dropped to all eights and scuttled after her, while Jace galloped along and Cassie broke into a sprint, Winslow purring cheerfully as she did so.

And with that, the five of them leaped straight into the cavern.

* * *

Petra landed a _second_ before Jesse did, before Jace and Reuben both landed and Cassie landed a moment later. The Blaze hybrid grinned, pumping her fists in excitement. "Awwwww yeah! In your face!" she cheered, victoriously.

Jesse let out a playful growl, punching the Blaze hybrid gently on the shoulder.

"Petra! Petra!" and Petra threw her arms into the air twice victoriously.

"Haha, good job, sweetie." And Jace leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, making the Blaze hybrid beam and kiss him right back.

"Okay," the spider hybrid panted, a huge grin sneaking over her face, " _maybe_ I didn't win, but that still felt _awesome_ getting back out there."

"Yeah, totally," Cassie grinned, leaning against a wall as she attempted to catch her breath, "this was super fun."

Petra grinned, nodding as she let an arm snake over Jace's shoulders. "Yeah! Couldn't agree more," she agreed happily, as the wolf hybrid beamed happily from where he was now standing with Petra's arm around him.

Reuben was dancing around Jesse, making her grin down at the little kid. "Did ya see? I beat up a bunch of bad mobs!" he cheered, happily.

"Good work, kidaroo," and Jesse patted him on the head with a big grin on her face, "your lessons with the lot of us are really paying off."

"And Isa, don't forget Isa," Jace added from where he was now cuddled up against Petra.

"Well, yeah, she was included in 'the lot of us'."

"Yeah, the City is looking pretty fantastic now," and Cassie grinned a bit in amusement. "Still pretty egg-themed though, I've noticed."

"What do you mean you've noticed, you're always hanging out at Aiden's place whenever we go for a training session."

"I didn't know you noticed." And Cassie's joking face was tinged with surprise, Jesse really seemed to get into the zone whenever they went to go train with Isa. Cassie hadn't realized that Jesse had actually spotted her leaving sometimes.

Jesse grinned at them as she crossed all of her arms, a lopsided smile plastered across her face. "Okay- this mystery _better_ live up to all the hype," she said, catching her breath a bit, as the mystery... bleating/growling/noisy sound came from down a small offshaft.

"Alright, here we come," Jesse said, starting towards the tunnel, "mystery monster..."

Jace dropped back behind Petra, while Reuben ended up getting sandwiched between Cassie and Jesse for safety. Jesse slowly crept along the tunnel, easing her way in, before they came to a different, dimmer room, and carefully, _carefully_ poked their heads over the edge of the small cliff to see the 'mystery' monster they'd been chasing.

Standing at the bottom of the pit, making soft grumbling noises, was a pure white llama with a blue-and-purple scarf wrapped around its neck.

* * *

 **A/N: Hi Lluna how ya doin' xD**

 **So to replace the RQTC, I will be doing fun facts about Hybrid, Hybrid Cinematic Mode, and Composite. x3**

 **Fun fact: I am basing Composite off of my own playthrough of Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2. x3**

 **Responses to reviewers!**

 **LunarStarsMoons: (laughs) / YEP! xD**

 **AquaK13: Hehehehehe xD / Indeed he does, so that'll be fascinating. / (laughs) Uh, yep. And Jesse practiced too. / He's only 11 but he's super smart and super good at this so xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: (laughs) / Well, 7 years IS a long time to work on your skills. Jesse definitely wouldn't waste his practice time. / (laughs) I can see why. / Well, he's not technically _dating_ her, he's practically _married_ to her. / Nope, Jesse didn't steal any cake.**

 **InsaneAcrobat: Oh yeah. You've never read Original Hybrid, did you? You probably shouldn't read this then xD / (grins) / No, Cassie will never become a hybrid. ... well at least I don't have that _planned_ right now. / Bai!**

 **Emily The Avenger: Oh lol xD**

 **That's all for this time! See y'all later!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	6. Don't Touch the Gauntlet-- Ah, Too Late

"A llama?" Jesse asked, blinking a bit in confusion.

Cassie's expression went completely deadpan. "A _llama_?!" she asked flatly.

Petra's eyes lit up (literally) at the sight of the llama. "We found it!" And she jumped down from the small cliff, approaching the llama carefully. "Ohh, your owner is gonna be _so_ happy to see you."

Jesse, Jace, Reuben, and Cassie all followed suit, Jesse landing on all eight legs (and then allowing Jace and Reuben in rapid succession to bounce off her back), while Cassie landed right next to Jesse, frowning at the llama.

(To be fair, though, it was a cute llama.)

"Er... Petra, let me get this straight," Jesse said slowly, sounding like she was about to burst out laughing any moment now. "This quest-"

"-was just to track down a stupid _llama?!_ " Cassie interrupted, crossing her arms and frowning at Petra.

The llama made an annoyed bleating sound, kicking Cassie in the leg a bit before turning around and walking away a bit.

Jesse couldn't help but cover her smile at the llama's antics.

"It's not just a 'stupid llama'!" Petra protested, crossing her arms and glaring around at them, "It's, uh, it's important, okay? It's apparently, like, a 'treasure-sniffing llama' or- ugh, it's important, okay?" And she turned around, arms still crossed.

Jesse glanced at Jace in confusion. He just shrugged a bit, a blank expression on his face.

Reuben looked up and around at the three young adults next to him, before back at Petra.

"... please, just- trust me," and Petra turned back around, her expression a bit more beseeching now.

"Okay, okay, we're sorry," Jesse said immediately, putting her hands into the air a bit. " If you say it's important... then I trust you."

Petra looked over at Jesse, hesitating for a moment. "... yeah?"

Jesse nodded in return, giving her shoulders a light little shrug. "Yeah."

With that, all of them turned back to the llama, Petra putting her hands on her hips and giving the llama a probing look. "Now. How about we get you outta here, huh?" she asked the llama, Jesse tentatively approaching.

"Alright, hey there... llama. C'mere girl," Jesse said softly, in a coaxing voice, "gooooood llama." And she _carefully_ approached it.

Jace winced, a worried look creeping over his face. "Um- Jesse, I would not recommend-"

It was a bit too late for that, though, because the llama looked over its 'shoulder' at Jesse, bleated, and then rocked itself onto its front legs to slam the hind ones straight into Jesse's chest, knocking the spider hybrid to the floor and making her iron chestplate puff into smoke almost immediately.

Reuben gave the llama a pleased look. "I like it!" And he went over and oinked a little at the llama.

The llama looked down at Reuben, a more appraising look coming over its face, and bleated at Reuben.

Jesse winced a bit as she sat back up with a sheepish grin, Petra strolling over with an amused grin. "Haha, that's what you get for wearing that dork armor," she teased the spider hybrid.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," and she let Petra and Cassie help her back up to her feet, dusting herself off a bit. "This thing packs quite a punch. Or, uh... kick." She glanced down at herself as an afterthought. "I guess I'll have to craft a new set. Darn."

And the four adults carefully started approaching the llama, Jesse circling around so she could talk to Reuben and the llama as a sort of distraction. "Uh, hey there... llama. How ya doin'?" she asked, mildly.

The llama gave her a deadpan look.

She carefully approached it, giving the llama a cheerful smile. "Hey girl... I think you're a girl, anyway. You're pretty, y'know that?"

The llama bleated a bit, looking at her in a deadpan way.

Jesse put her hands up in surrender, where the llama could see 'em. "Hey, don't worry. I'm not gonna try to hurt you, alright?" she asked, keeping her voice calm and relaxed. "Easy there-"

The llama drew its head back and spit right in her face.

"Ah!" and Jesse jumped a bit, wiping it off hastily. "Oh, okay, that was-" She unexpectedly giggled a bit, as she remembered what Radar had said about spitting in fate's eye. Well, she'd been doing it for so long she was probably long overdue for some payback. "That's a good surprise tactic, girl."

The llama stared at Jesse for a moment longer, blue eyes blinking at her innocently.

And then it butted its head into her chest gently.

She stared at it blankly, before it did it again. And again.

Reuben looked up at the llama, before back at Jesse, a bit blankly. "Um, maybe you should try petting her?" he suggested, Jesse glancing up to see that the other three were steadily getting closer.

Jesse shrugged a bit at the suggestion, reaching down and beginning to stroke the llama. Very quickly, the white creature calmed down, making a much more pleasant grumbling noise. "Alright. Theeeere ya go girl. Nice and easy..." She carefully removed her hand again, giving the llama a cheerful smile, before the llama let out a loud bleat as Jace threw his arms around it, making Jesse yelp in surprise at the sudden movement. Petra jumped onto its back, and Cassie grabbed it by the scarf.

Jesse scooped Reuben up and dove out of the way as the llama started rocking back and forth violently, before throwing all three of them off in rapid succession.

The spider hybrid watched as the llama galloped off into a dark tunnel nearby, the white coat disappearing into the darkness.

"Aw, c'mon guys, I had it," Jesse complained teasingly.

"Hey, I was all ready to let you handle it. _Jace_ here was the guy who decided it'd be a good time to try to tackle the llama," and Cassie gave the wolf hybrid a pointed look.

Jace shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry. Llamas get me excited.

"Well, c'mon," Cassie said, starting after it, "let's get after that armor-wrecking-" she pointed at the now-no-longer-wearing-armor Jesse. "-thing."

"Sure. Let's go." And Petra flicked her hand, a ball of fire immediately erupting to life in her palm. Jace blinked hard, eyes slowly beginning to glow a faint green. Jesse's red eye gleamed in the darkness, and she looked around. Okay, night vision is A-OK.

Reuben looked up at Cassie innocently. "Can you see?" he asked politely.

The redhead looked around, before nodding decisively. "Yeah, I think I'll be good."

"Okay. Heeeere llama llama llama," Jace called out, making Jesse stifle a giggle at the comment.

"Where'd you go?" Petra asked, adopting a more soothing tone, before glancing over at the spider hybrid with a playful grin. "After you, 'Mayor Jesse.'"

Jesse rolled her eyes a bit at that, giving Petra a look. "I've _told_ you- I'm not the 'mayor', I'm the-"

"'Leader and Hero in Residence'," Jace, Petra, Cassie, and Reuben all chorused in unison, giving Jesse a playful grin when she turned around to give them a (joking) deadpan glare, before Petra shrugged." I know, I know. It's just that- you do a lot of paperwork, and like, 'town-running' things. Call a shovel a shovel, am I right?" And she gave Jesse a grin to show she didn't mean any harm by it.

Jesse gave her eyes a playful roll before continuing into the next room, looking around quizzically... and then looking up upon spotting a pair of white hooves. There, standing on a single column of gravel, was the llama.

"How the heck did you get up _there?_ " Petra asked, grinning at the llama with a bemused look.

"Who knows?" Cassie replied, shrugging. "It's coming down now."

Jesse reached over and punched through a block of gravel, the column falling down a block and making the llama bleat a bit. Now there was some pale blue light beginning to emit from behind the llama.

"Is that... light?" Reuben asked, blinking in confusion at that.

Jace frowned. "Yeah... definitely seeing some light here."

Jesse shrugged at them a bit, looking just as bewildered as the other two, before punching through another block and making the llama fall down another block. Now there was _definitely_ quite a bit of this pale-ish blue light flooding into the room, and Jesse punched through the last block and let the llama drop to the ground (whereupon Reuben immediately vaulted onto its back- he was the only one small enough to ride this llama), to reveal this huge cavern behind the llama.

Jace's brow furrowed a bit. "What the...?"

All of them leaned over to stare into the room, to show that there was this small pyramid in the middle of the room with... something small and glowing on top of it. Streams of lava were flowing down into various areas of the room, and as they all filed neatly into the room you could see this glowing... hole in the ground. Cassie keeping a firm hand on the llama, the group all slowly approached the pyramid, curious looks on their faces.

And then the llama popped in front of the group.

Jesse laughed and gently shooed it out of the way. "Sorry, llama, girl, we were looking at that."

Jace coughed something that sounded suspiciously like " _Snow White_ " out.

"What's that?" Petra asked, quizzically.

"Only one way to find out," and Jesse walked towards the pyramid carefully, putting one foot on the first tier-

 _"Jessssssseeeeeeee..._ "

She stepped back again, giving the group behind her a creeped out look. "Whaaaat was that creepy whisper?" she asked, slowly.

The rest of the group exchanged confused looks with one another, before Reuben poked his head over the llama's to look at Jesse. "I didn't hear anything..." He then shuddered a little bit. "But this is creepy..."

" _Slayer of the Witherstorm..._ "

Jesse's head snapped back to face the thing... which looked a bit like a glove now that they were closer. Slowly, she approached the pyramid and climbed up a step.

" _Savior of Sky City..._ "

Feeling even more and more unnerved by the second, she climbed up another few tiers.

" _Liberator of Crown Mesa..._ "

Feeling her stomach contract a bit, Jesse climbed up to the top tier, coming face to face with a glowing gauntlet. It appeared to be composed of a darker type of prismarine, with some type of... glowing crystal embedded in the knuckles and a section that would probably go on one's arm.

There was suddenly a loud bleat, and Jesse looked down to see Petra and Cassiesteadying the llama, which looked _supremely_ uncomfortable, and Reuben, who was clinging to the llama tightly. "Easy there, guys." Petra then glanced up at Jesse, a frown creasing her brow. "What is it?"

"Some sort of glove, or, uh... gauntlet?" Jesse said slowly, turning back around to stare at the glove carefully. "Looks like it's made out of Prismarine..."

"Prismarine?" Jace's eyebrows went up. "Don't you usually only find that at, like, the bottom of the ocean?"

" _The Old Builder's Downfall..._ "

Jesse's head snapped back around to stare at the glove.

" _This world's champion... this world's mightiest hero... the most worthy... worthiest in all the land..._ " With that, the glove fell silent, except for a strange humming that seemed to be emitting from it. Jesse frowned at the glove thoughtfully-

And suddenly her phone buzzed.

With a groan and a sigh, Jesse pulled out her phone, with every intention of just turning it off-

And then freezing mid-motion.

 _Don't touch the gauntlet._

This message was not the same as the ones below it.

"... guys, I just... got a message," Jesse said slowly, turning around to glance at her friends- only to hear a variety of beeping or _ding_ ing noises, whereupon the other three pulled out their own phones.

"I just got a text message that said, uh... 'don't let Jesse f-" Petra glanced at Reuben. "-fizzing touch that glove."

"Mine says, in all caps... pretty much the same thing as Petra's," Cassie said, shifting her position enough so that Reuben couldn't peek at her screen and see a bad word.

Jace frowned, ears flicking a bit. "Mine just said 'Jesse should not touch that glove.'"

"I got a message saying... not to touch the gauntlet either." Jesse gave the gauntlet a wary look, stepping away from it a little bit. Weird whispers, and now a text message saying not to touch the creepy gauntlet? She was sold. "Maybe we should just- get of here. Leave the gauntlet."

"Yeah, I'm sold," Jace said, looking back up at Jesse.

The spider hybrid began to turn-

" _JESSSSSSEEEEEEE..._ "

The ceiling suddenly rumbled, making Jesse jump a bit and look up, lower arm automatically catching the phone and sticking it back in her pocket as it slipped out of her upper arms, which were raised defensively.

Several blocks of gravel shook loose, slamming down in front of the entrance to the cave and making the rest of the group whip around with a yell of dismay-

Before there was a strange sound, Jesse turned around- just in time to see the gauntlet suddenly change orientation and _slam_ onto her uppermost right hand, making her yelp in surprise as she flailed backwards a step. "How did- where-?! What. Is this. Thing?" she asked, shakily, when suddenly a strange sound began ominously emitting from the glove as it glowed a bit, the creepy whisper... well, whispering her name again.

Petra soared neatly onto the apex of the pyramid, while Jace leaped up next to his sister and Cassie hastily scrambled up there, Reuben hopping off of her back the moment they were there. "I dunno," Cassie said, shaking her head and looking a little worried as the glow abruptly faded, "I dunno, it- it seems like it's not hurting you, and that's good..."

"It looks... kinda... okay, actually, it looks really cool," Petra said, staring at the glove with her own slightly-freaked-out expression on her face, "which- I know might not be what you wanna hear right now."

"Guys, I gotta tell ya," Jesse said lightly, looking up at them with wide eyes, before flailing her arms and nearly smacking them a little bit, " _I am FREAKING OUT HERE!_ "

"It's gonna be okay!" Jace squeaked, regarding the glove with a panicked expression, "it'll be okay, we'll- we'll figure it out."

Jesse let out a yelp as her arm suddenly started shaking, the glove insistently vibrating as it started glowing again. " _Jeeees-s-s-s-s-s-s-sseeee-ee-ee-e-_ "

"Well, here, we'll help you take it off." Petra took ahold of one end, bracing her leg against Jesse's, Jace wrapping his arms around Petra's waist with no pleased look on his face, for once, while Cassie and Reuben grabbed Jesse by the waist, the two groups desperately pulling in their respective directions, before Jesse winced with a pained squeak. "Okay- ow- wow- _stop._ " And she quickly removed her arm from Petra's grip.

"That thing is..." Cassie panted, looking around at it, "that thing is _seriously_ stuck."

"I can't just shake this feeling that-" Jace bit his lip a bit, before looking up at Jesse. "Maybe you were _meant_ to find that gauntlet. Like- maybe it was your destiny or something..."

"Man, what are the odds...?" the spider hybrid whispered, staring down at the glove now on her arm. "Command blocks, portal keys... why is it _always me?_ "

"I dunno," Petra said, staring down at the glove and then back up at Jesse, "but, uh, there's definitely a pattern." And she gave Jesse a weak little grin.

Suddenly, there was a loud _crash_ ing sound, and the pyramid they were on collapsed a bit, Cassie scooping Reuben off and diving off, Jace leaping off, and Petra soaring off quickly. "Uh-oh- get off the pyramid, quick!" And Jesse tensed her knees and leaped, just as the ground beneath her collapsed, falling away into some sort of... pit?

Jesse's upper torso slammed into the edge of the pit, knocking all of the wind out of her, and then, to her _absolute horror_ , she started sliding back _into the pit_.

" _AAAAAAAAHHHH!_ " she screamed, lashing out with her hand and catching ahold of the edge just in time, looking down to see... empty green nothingness, with strange clouds of black swirling around inside, and an almost magnetic pull trying to yank her in.

Well, at least she hadn't fallen in yet.

Though that had been ever so _close._

* * *

 **A/N: Whoooo, we have discovered the abomination known as the 'Heckmouth'.**

 **Fun fact: Jace didn't exist in the original Hybrid plan.**

 **the indecisive bird: They have enough of the other mob's DNA in them to cause their hands from being damaged. / x3**

 **S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: YEP xD / Errrrr... sort of.**

 **TheAmberShadow: (laughs) Indeed. / Cassie swears a LOT. Plus, she's usually not in situations she would be prompted to swear in around Reuben. / (laughs)**

 **AquaK13: (grins) / No, if there's a human in the group and riding the spider, the spiders will tend to assume that there's something wrong. If they were just running alongside Jesse, that might've gone okay, but on a spider's back and they assume that their spider brethren is in danger. / (giggles) / (laughs) / Yep! And thanks :3**

 **LunarStarsMoons: (grins)**

 **InsaneAcrobat: :3 / Yeah, pretty much. 7 years is plenty of time, I think. / (shrugs) / (shrugs) / Jace is fully aware of the loss of Miss Butter, and that is all I'm saying about that.**

 **RapidSammi: (grins) / Nahh, it's fine. Good to have ya back, Sammi! :3**

 **BeliTheGhoti0304: (grins)**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	7. Heckmouth and Champion City

The others ran to the edge where Jesse was dangling, the spider hybrid frantically scrambling with her extra limbs for purchase on the slippery stone wall. It wasn't really working, though- one, because she was panicking, and two, did I mention that the wall was slippery?

"C'mon!" Petra shouted, over the strange... _noises_ from the Heckmouth, reaching down and grabbing one of the uppermost free hands, while Jace and Cassie seized their own sets and Reuben clung to Jace tightly. "Let's get you up out of there!"

Now, had Jesse been a different hybrid, grabbing her hand would've been quite nice. Unfortunately, right here the problem was that she felt like she had _less_ purchase on the ground and felt _more_ like she was going to fall in.

But she knew she wouldn't.

Because she was with her friends.

And they'd never let her down before, had they?

The five of them quickly managed to yank Jesse back onto solid ground, the spider hybrid scrambling to her feet and moving away from the edge as frantically as she could, turning and staring down into the hole. "Okay, now what the _heck_ is that thing?!" she managed, breathing heavily.

Cassie leaned over to stare at the hole in the ground. "It's like a huge... mouth... in the ground...?" she managed, her own hands trembling a bit at the memory of Jesse nearly slipping _straight_ into the pit.

"Some sort of..." Jace frowned at it, wolf ears twitching as he tried to think of an appropriate name. His own hands were trembling slightly, so it was obvious he was still a bit distracted about his twin sister nearly plummeting into a pit. "... Heckmouth?"

"Sure, yeah," Jesse nodded distractedly, still staring at the swirling black clouds at the bottom of the empty green pit (well, 'bottom' is relative), "'Heckmouth'. That works."

Petra frowned down into it, narrowing her eyes. "I... I don't think I can see the bottom. _Ugh_. Gives me the willies." And the Blaze hybrid shuddered a little bit.

Jace carefully edged over so that Petra was between him and the pit, making a soft whining noise. If that motion hadn't made it abundantly clear already, _he_ didn't like this 'Heckmouth' very much either. "And... what's that sound coming from down there?" he asked, warily.

Reuben made a little whining noise, trotting over to Jesse and hugging her tightly.

"I don't care whether we can see the bottom or not," Jesse said, shakily. "We need to cover it up. _Now_."

"Right!" Cassie agreed, running over to a huge pile of cobblestone nearby, before, as the llama watched them, the five of them rushed around covering up the hole with cobblestone (Jesse kept a firm lower hand on Reuben at all times to avoid having the little pig hybrid fall into the pit. That would, uh... That would be bad.)

"What is this?"

Jesse looked over to see Cassie staring at a glowing, greenish hole in the ground from where she'd ventured in covering up the hole, looking up at the rest of the group in confusion.

"A hole?" Jace suggested, tentatively.

"No- well, _yes_ , it is a hole... but I'm getting a pretty bad feeling that it's the _actual_ way we're gonna fix this," Jesse added, frowning down at the hole. In the hole, there were strange engravings on the sides that were simply yet somehow beautifully carved.

There was a loud, sudden, rumbling that shook the cavern, lava beginning to hiss as it found new areas of rock that it hadn't previously covered. "On second thought," Jesse began, quickly, "let's talk about it _anywhere_ but in here."

"Well, _I'm_ fine with it, but I know you're not, so I think that's a good idea. Not getting out the way we came, though!" And Petra pointed at the gravel-covered entryway.

The five of them looked around for new exits, before Reuben tilted his head up and pointed. "What about up there?" he asked, innocently.

Jesse tilted her head back to see what Reuben was looking at, to see a hole in the cavern ceiling that narrowed into a little exit. There was also a huge column of earth connecting the hole to the bottom of the cavern. "Yeah- c'mon!"

And Jesse dropped to all eights, allowing Cassie to climb on, before Reuben came on. Jace glanced at Petra, who nodded quickly at him, before dropping to all fours and starting to bound up the column in little jumps and leaps. Petra got ahold of the llama and started carrying it up to the surface, having to start and stop consistently.

Had any bystanders been nearby, with no context, it would've been _really_ funny to see the spider hybrid's right hand constantly slipping and sliding from the glove being on her hand and to see a Blaze hybrid hovering up and down with an armful of llama in her hands.

Also to hear Cassie keep changing swear words as Winslow kept yowling and hissing all the way up as Jesse kept slipping and sliding.

* * *

After an _uncomfortably_ long time, the five of them managed to make it up to the surface, Petra a little sweaty from lugging the llama up the column (Jace offered her some water and she happily accepted, which was a pretty important sigh about how dead tired she was right about now).

"It's so close to Beacontown..." Jesse mumbled, frowning at how close they were standing to the town.

A moment passed, Reuben tightening his grip on Jesse's legs a bit (Jesse reached down and absentmindedly rubbed his head), before Petra pulled out a slightly battered wooden sign and extended it to Jesse. "Here. Maybe you could... leave a warning, or something?" she suggested, shrugging slightly. (Hey, that was sort of alliteration.)

Jesse took the sign, taking a look at the blank wooden surface for a few moments, before looking up at the others. "Anyone got a marker?"

Cassie handed it over. Jesse gave the red-haired girl a grateful grin, before looking back down at the sign and taking ahold of it in her left hand, scrawling a message in her somewhat-neat handwriting on the front of the sign. Once satisfied, she gave it a short nod and then stuck it into the ground, displaying the very straightforward message:

 _WARNING: HECKMOUTH._

"Straight to the point," Petra said, smiling down at the sign with the llama insistently nudging Jesse (who gave her eyes a little roll and started petting it quietly, making it grumble in pleasure as she passed the marker back over to Cassie). "I like it."

Cassie grinned a bit as well, and Jace patted his sister and his girlfriend/fiancee/the person he didn't really know what exactly to call anymore on the shoulders with a grin.

"Okay, then," and Jesse cleared her throat, bringing everyone's attention back to the current topic at hand, "what do we do about all this?" And she stuck out her uppermost right hand pointedly, the Prismarine gauntlet shining dully in the sunlight.

Petra stared at the gauntlet for a moment, gold eyes beginning to heat up slightly and spark in thought. That usually meant Petra had a good idea.

Or, well, sometimes ideas that she _thought_ were good ideas, but you get the point.

"Well, it's all made of _Prismarine_ , right?" Petra asked, crossing her arms and staring at the glove, "And you only find that in, like, _monuments_ and stuff at the bottom of the ocean."

Jace nodded a bit, Cassie crossing her arms with a nod herself. Jesse inclined her head slightly in a way that said she understood, tugging Reuben a bit closer to her. And even _Reuben_ nodded vigorously in agreement. So far they were all on the same page. This was pretty much common knowledge to every citizen of... well, of _their_ world.

"There's a treasure hunter in Beacontown named Jack. _Kind_ of a legend. He knows everything about Prismarine, exploring the ocean..." The Blaze hybrid faltered a bit. "Because, we definitely can't have _that_ happening again," and Petra pointed at the small hole that led to the Heckmouth cavern. "That was... that was _really_ bad."

"Quite the understatement," Cassie mumbled.

Jesse shrugged cheerfully, all of her shoulders moving slightly as she did so. "That sounds perfect!" she said cheerfully. "I can't wait to meet this guy." And she _really_ couldn't- as soon as this glove came off, the happier she'd be.

Petra pumped her fist a bit, hovering into the air slightly in excitement. " _Knew_ you'd be excited! Yes! And I'll take you to Jack's shop as soon as I'm back, but first... I _really_ need to deal with this llama." And she turned the llama around in the other direction and started trying to lead it along, yanking on the scarf as hard as she could without ripping it when it simply _refused_ to move. Jace slowly _sort of_ started approaching her again, presumably to follower her wherever she was taking this (very stubborn) llama. "Okay, c'mon, you! Gotta get you home!"

"But what about my _hand?!_ " Jesse protested, flailing her gauntlet-clad arm (Jace had to dive out of the way again to avoid getting smacked in the face). "This thing won't come off!"

"I- yeah, I know, I know, but this llama-" Petra began, distractedly, still yanking on the llama.

"Okay-" Cassie touched her temple, looking as if she had a bit of a headache, "why is that llama so important to you?"

Petra let out a long sigh at last, the llama making a slight spitting sound as she released it again. "You know my sword?" she asked a moment later, putting a hand to her forehead in what _appeared_ to be slight embarrassment. "Gold one? With all the enchantments?"

"'Miss Butter'," Jace prompted helpfully.

"We know, Jace. We know."

"Yeah." Petra coughed a bit, awkwardly, ignoring Cassie's playful comment. "I, I... kinda got _tricked_... by this person named Stella. Said she 'just wanted to put it on _display_ for a little while'," and she made a lofty, condescending voice and made air quotes around that.

Jesse, Cassie, and Reuben exchanged looks. This already did not sound good.

"And... now she won't give it back until I do dumb quests like this for her."

The llama made an angry sound at Petra.

"It's, uh..." Petra frowned, before glancing away awkwardly and letting out a loud huffing sound. "It's been not great." She paused for a moment, before adding quietly, "Hoping this is the end of it."

"I can't believe this person tricked you. That's _awful_. And _so_ unfair!" Jesse exclaimed, frowning. She was strongly reminded of Hadrian to be quite honest, now that she thought of it.

Jace nodded, patting his twin sister on the back empathetically. "I couldn't agree with ya more, there, sis."

Cassie frowned, eyes beginning to turn faintly red in irritation. "Yeah, she sounds like a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig jerk."

At least this time the correction wasn't prompted.

"So- yeah, her name's Stella," Petra said, rubbing her gold arm slightly and making it spark a bit, "and she's... kinda obsessed with treasure. She says this is her 'treasure-sniffing llama' or..." And she shrugged a bit, glancing at the creamy white llama with the striped scarf that was currently snorting a bit. "She runs a place called Champion City."

Jesse blinked. "Wait, like Champion City right over there?" and she pointed at the city about a quarter of a mile away from Beacontown. The so-called 'rival city' of Beacontown. (She only knew this because a lot of people in Beacontown seemed to _really_ not like Champion City, and because the leader of Champion City- now known to her as Stella (her signatures were _so_ hard to read. You'd think that someone with that nice handwriting in her letters would have a nice signature, but _noooo._ )- had sent her several letters declaring a rivalry. So...)

"That's..." The spider hybrid frowned a moment later, crossing all of her arms. "I had no idea their leader was like that."

"Yes, she's..." Jace paused, as if trying to figure out a more polite term than 'greedy' or something probably worse than that. "... ambitious."

"And she's willing to do _anything_ to get her way. Bullying, lying, cheating..." Petra growled, before sighing, all of the **fire** (eh? eh?) going out of her eyes. "Without my sword... I just _really_ need to get it back. Just hope Stella actually gives it _back_ this time..."

Jesse slung her arm over Petra's shoulder, making the red-haired Blaze hybrid look over at her. "We're the _Order of the Stone_ , Petra. Looking out for each other is what we do." And she grinned at the Blaze hybrid.

"Yep. And we will get your sword back in a way that _doesn't_ stoop to Stella's level." Cassie grinned as she put her own arm around Petra's shoulders, making her head turn to stare at the former White Pumpkin. "... mostly."

Reuben giggled at that, the llama snorting slightly as it turned to look at him.

"That's... fair." And Petra smiled at the rest of the group, Jace grinning as she reached out and ruffled his hair. "Thanks, guys."

"C'mon." And Cassie removed her arm from around Petra's shoulders, beginning a brisk walk towards Champion City. "I can't _wait_ to meet this 'Stella' lady myself. And hey, it'll be interesting to see _Jesse_ meet her."

"Why's that?" Reuben asked. (Jesse stooped down and popped him onto the llama's back, the llama looking rather pleased at that as Jesse's middle right arm started patting the llama's neck, the lower one snagging around one end of the scarf. Petra took the other end, and slowly the little procession started moving along, Jace right at Petra's side with her free arm slung over his shoulders in an almost territorial way.

Kind of like " _This adorable puppy dog is mine. Back off._ "

But more intense because if you didn't listen she'd set you on fire.

"Well, Jesse's the leader of Beacontown, isn't she? Meeting the leader of the rival city right next door for the first time should be pretty interesting, especially with how Jesse is." And Cassie shot Jesse a teasing grin over her shoulder.

"Well... yeah. Okay." Petra, for some reason, looked rather uncomfortable, but Jace looked a bit uncomfortable too, so it might've just been the fact that they _really_ didn't seem to like Stella. "Let's do it."

"Then, freshly re-armed," Jesse said cheerfully, as Cassie dropped back a bit, "we'll come back, sort out that Heckmouth, and-" She experimentally tugged at the gauntlet, an irritated look coming over her face as she had no luck once again. " _Get this thing off my HAND!_ "

* * *

 **A/N: We get to visit Champion City next chapter. And see Stella.**

 **Yay? xD**

 **Oh god I've got a headache and I'm hungry. There's a reason I don't like Tuesdays.**

 **Fun fact: Olivia was almost a skeleton hybrid.**

 **Responses to reviewers!**

 **LunarStarsMoons: (laughs) / (laughs) Well, I'm glad you like him. Now that I think about it, the Jesse twins have a 'cinnamon roll' gene to them. / (laughs) Indeed.**

 **TheAmberShadow: Only if the wolf is untamed. Otherwise they don't do anything unless provoked. (looks at Jace) He seems pretty tame to me. / (laughs) / It wasn't really 'changing my mind'. More like "Hey this would be fun". xD**

 **LegoGirl794: Agreed but the game is made for 10 years and older, so xD**

 **TOOTA: You already have.**

 **AquaK13: (laughs) / Hehehehe xD Well, maybe... / Me: ... what in your right mind would make you think touching a glove that is creepily whispering your name is a good idea? / (laughs) That's good! / (grins) Mayyyybe. / Bai!**

 **S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Nope! xD**

 **ChibiMCSM Crew: YEP! xD**

 **J.M.M: No**

 **Infernius Flashfire: (laughs) She's fine.**

 **Jack: Yay! :3 Glad you liked it! / (laughs) / I like Lluna. She's kinda badass.**

 **BeliTheGhoti0304: (chuckles) / It was actually inspired by a review from a reader, I think. They wanted a wolf hybrid, so I was like- "You know, this would be a good excuse to put Male Jesse in the story."**

 **Rabbits rule: Thanks! :3 / ?**

 **Savannah-the-Caracal: (laughs) I'm glad you like it so much.**

 **Choco: Yay! :3**

 **That's all for this time, folks! G'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	8. Champion City

The six of them (if you counted the llama) strolled down the path right up to the elaborately decorated gate that towered several times any of their heights over them (especially Jesse's), although even that wasn't enough to block their view of the immaculately designed buildings. As they stepped through the gates, they were almost immediately greeted by a giant statue of a creamy llama, paths neatly blocked off by trimmed grass and surrounding the statue with white buildings with windows made of tinted blue glass. Acacia wood planks(? Jesse wasn't actually too sure about that) decorated some of the 'higher-up' parts of the buildings. A few sea lanterns dotted the area around the giant llama statue. Champion City was nothing like the (somewhat) organized chaos of color that was Boom Town. It was neat and immaculate and orderly.

Jesse didn't like it very much.

After spending so much time in the lab, with white walls and rules and order, being in places like this- even after so long of not actually _being_ in the lab, made Jesse a little nervous. True, there WAS the green grass and the wood and the flowers and of course the people milling around in various colorful outfits, as well as a distinct _design_ to the buildings that was a far cry from the lab, but still.

This place didn't exactly make her feel very good.

This 'Stella' really couldn't have designed the place more like the lab if she'd tried. (Jesse was sure she hadn't intentionally _tried_ , but you never know.)

"Thiiiis is it," Petra sighed, coming to a halt. Jesse followed the redhead's lead as she came to a halt, one hand still latched onto the llama's scarf. "Champion City."

Jesse looked around again, feeling a sense of relief that at _least_ the sky was still visible. If Stella had made some sort of dome over the place the spider hybrid would've probably just tried to hightail it out of there.

"Every single one of those apartments up there is _exactly the same,_ " Petra said, taking Jesse's silence and looking around as curiosity as she indicated one of the buildings they were standing near. "Stella is strict about how things look here. She claims the top level are the 'Diamond Class Apartments', but they're just one block wider..."

Jesse had to wonder how Petra _knew_ all this stuff. Sure, Petra was always careful and tended to do her research on people or places she was getting involved in (well, barring the whole Wither trade with Ivor, but then again she'd had a much shorter notice on that trade), but... _this_ seemed a little more extensive than just doing her research and making it her business.

Jace looked supremely unconcerned about the whole matter when she glanced at him, so she shrugged it off. After all, it _was_ Petra they were talking about.

"Mmm, I dunno if this is... quite my taste," Jesse said, looking around with a slight frown on her face. "I prefer what we're doing in Beacontown." She patted her chest automatically with her upper right hand, but having forgotten that there was a giant hulking gauntlet on it she accidentally hit herself in the chest and knocked a bit of breath out of her.

Cassie patted her on the back sympathetically.

"Yeah, Stella always wants everything exactly her way," Jace said quietly, giving his shoulders a little shrug. "Doesn't really matter _how_ other people wanna build." He exchanged a fleeting look with Petra, before continuing, perking up a little bit, "That's why we like Beacontown better too."

The six of them began walking further into the town, but right about then the llama suddenly dug her heels into the ground and made a little sound, all of the group turning to look at the llama as she refused to budge an inch. "What- come on. We're almost there!" Petra exclaimed in an almost-coaxing voice, but when the llama refused to budge (and in fact _sat down_ ), Reuben hopped off and started cuddling the llama, while Jesse also released the scarf. "It's like _she_ doesn't want to go see Stella."

A moment passed, before Petra's brow furrowed, and the Blaze hybrid crossed her arms. "I kinda know how she feels. I just- really need this to go well. And with Stella... well, it doesn't, most times."

"Hey, that's why you've got _me_ , remember?" the spider hybrid asked the Blaze hybrid cheerfully, giving her taller friend a gentle dig to the ribs.

"And me," Reuben added, from where he was still cuddling the llama.

"And me," Cassie chimed in.

"Don't forget me," and Jace buried his face in the crook of Petra's neck, making her smile a bit against her will.

"We're a team," Jesse continued, grinning at her other friends, "and we will take care of this _no_ problem."

Cassie put a hand on her hip, looking around the city. "Sure hope you're right."

"Anyway, Stella usually has her 'office hours' in the center of the courtyard," Petra continued, pointing in the direction of the courtyard. Another elaborate doorway (though not nearly as big as the first one) that apparently lead to the courtyard greeted Jesse's red and green eyes.

"Well, I hope she's ready for an 'appointment' with the Order of the Stone," Jesse said, starting towards the courtyard in a light, almost _casual_ stroll.

But if you knew Jesse well, judging by that cool look on her face, you probably knew it was anything but.

"Wow," Cassie mumbled, narrowing her eyes at the ground, "even the flowers are organized." And indeed, some people were kneeling down and working on the flowers off to one side.

"Yeah, see the gardeners working on them?" Jace asked, nodding his head at the nearest guy to them, "they all owe her stuff too. Everyone in _town_ owes Stella something."

"I think that's where she got most of the materials to build Champion City in the first place," Petra murmured, putting her hands on her hips as the whole group came to a little halt. "Lots of little trades over time adds up to... well, quite a lot."

Reuben's eyes grew quite big at that. "Wait, the whole town? How?"

"Yep," Jace said simply.

Petra picked up for him, scowling at the ground. "She's always finding little reasons that people's trades aren't enough, making up new rules..." she muttered, sounding rather disgruntled about that.

"Well, your sword is one trade Stella _won't_ be getting out of," the spider hybrid said, reaching up and giving her friend a solid pat on the back, making Petra grin at her widely. "I'll make sure of it."

"I can't believe Ms. Stella built the whole city," Reuben whispered in something akin to awe. Even though he didn't like the sound of Stella, Jesse's insistence to 'be polite' had really been drummed into him.

"Yeah, but it's all fake," Petra frowned, crossing her arms. "Made by people she's tricked into doing it. I'm not even sure she even remember how to build anymore."

Jesse was quiet for a minute, frowning as she absorbed that fact, before she crossed her arms. "That... sounds a bit sad. I think Isa's more impressive than her, to be honest. Isa built almost the entirety of Sky City _by herself._ It was small, but it was definitely mostly her work."

"And it was still _super_ impressive," Petra added, giving Jesse a friendly grin at that.

"Exactly," Jesse beamed at the redhead, before tilting her head to get a better look at the creamy white llama. "Hey, the llama doing okay?"

The llama made a little sound, and Petra bent down to give the llama a look. "Hard to tell... she seems really nervous. We should probably get her to Stella as soon as possible."

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" and with that the spider hybrid walked briskly to the doors that contained the courtyard, the others scrambling to keep up and not failing to notice the almost _sly_ glint of light in her eyes. "I can't _wait_ to meet Stella."

* * *

The door opened smoothly, people cheering and hopping around near the center of the courtyard. At the other end of the courtyard, opposite the entrance, there was another huge white building with two entrances and huge, blue stained glass windows.

Petra made a little grunting sound a moment later, coming to a stop with her hand still fastened tightly on Lluna's scarf. She sighed and raised an arm, pointing into the crowd. "There's Stella."

"Yes, that's right!" exclaimed an almost... falsely cheerful voice. Jesse's eyes focused on the speaker, a woman wearing a dark purple pinstriped suit (with a skirt) and dark shoes, her hazel-green eyes sparkling as she handed over a little wolf puppy to someone- a miner? Her hair was long and blonde... on one side. If she turned her head enough, you could see that the hair on the other side was incongruously short, but then again, she didn't look that bad with it. One the right side (the same side that her hair was shorter), was a microphone clipped to her ear. Her whitish... pinkish shirt suited her voice, in a way. "Puppies for everyone!"

She let out an airy laugh. "No shoving now! We're not Beacontowners."

Jesse frowned at her a bit, Petra wincing and rubbing her head at the insult. "You've probably put this together by now, but... Stella's _pretty_ fond of herself. I would play to her ego."

"She's a stuck-up, arrogant jerk, so let's make her even more egotistical. Sure, great idea, Petra," Cassie 'translated' flatly.

Everyone sent her deadpan looks, even Reuben. She blinked at that, giving a little shrug. "What? It's not _inaccurate_."

Stella adjusted her hair a bit, smile growing slightly more brittle for some reason. Most people probably hadn't noticed... but Jesse didn't have glasses for a reason. It was just for a moment- not even a full moment, maybe... but Jesse had spotted it.

With that, the spider hybrid, accompanied by the rest of the Order of the Stone, began to make their way through the crowd. Jesse, for once, was glad about her height- it gave her the ability to slip between the crowd without shoving through them, as the rest of the Order was having to. (Well, except for Reuben. He was even tinier than Jesse.)

"Oh! Well, that _is_ a cute one. And he could be all yours! Provided you have the right payment, of course."

Cassie scowled at that. Sounded like Jace and Petra's comments about her hadn't been that wrong, after all.

"Oh, she matches your outfit _wonderfully_."

Jace's brow wrinkled. " _I'm_ a wolf hybrid, and even _I_ don't get how a puppy can match someone's outfit," he whispered to Petra as she gently tugged the llama through the crowd.

Petra snorted.

"I know you _think_ you like that one, but actually, I think _this one_ is more for you, don't you think?" Stella suggested in a sweet tone, making sure to keep the puppy as far away from her as she could. Probably so it didn't mess up her suit.

As they reached the front of the crowd, the llama suddenly stalled, grunting as it tried to pull out of Petra's grip. Unfortunately for it, Petra's hands were a lot stronger than they looked, and she (gently!) hauled the llama towards the pedestal. "C'mon, you!" she grunted. Jesse, Jace, Cassie, and even Reuben sidestepped to avoid the llama trampling on their toes by accident.

Or on purpose, depending on how annoying the llama wanted to be at that moment.

Stella turned to see them, smile immediately falling into a somewhat more... serious expression. She turned around, the bodyguards surrounding her turning and following quietly. "Ohh, Lluna-"

Oh, so the llama's name was _Lluna._

" _-_ my _darling!_ You came home!" Stella said happily, in a tone that did _not_ match her facial expression. "You came _back!_ " On the last word, she leaned into Lluna's face, making the creamy white llama pull her head away from her owner.

Jesse was starting to feel a little bad about bringing Lluna back to Stella.

"Ah, Rodrigo? Could you bring Lluna home, please?" Stella asked, almost dismissively, turning to stare at one of the bodyguards, who simply moved forward to take Lluna back.

Lluna turned to look at the Order, a pleading sort of expression on her face. Jesse gave the llama an apologetic look, while Petra shifted her gaze off to the side and Jace frowned at the llama himself. Cassie glanced at Winslow, who let out a soft whining, and then down at Reuben, who was just giving Lluna the most sympathetic look you could ever imagine.

Rodrigo took Lluna by the scarf and gently started leading the llama way, before Lluna paused and gave them one, final sort of look.

When it became clear that the Order wasn't going to do anything- _couldn't_ do anything, really, if they didn't want to annoy Stella- she simply went with Rodrigo.

Jesse tore her eyes from the departing llama, approaching her so-called 'rival' mildly.

"There's a good girl," Stella simpered, glaring after the llama a bit.

Jesse's phone buzzed again, but (and maybe it was just Jesse's imagination) it was more of a persistent humming buzz. One that just seemed slightly irritated.

Honestly, Jesse could relate.

"Stella?" Jesse asked, in a tentative, polite way.

Stella turned to face Jesse again, putting her hands on her hips. "Ohhh, look who it is! Jesse! Leader of Beacontown! And my sworn rival." And she crossed her arms as she stared evenly at Jesse.

The spider hybrid blinked twice, before leaning over and asking, in as casual a whisper as she could manage, asking Cassie (the nearest person to her), "I have never met her before, right?"

"No," Cassie whispered back.

"Our rivalry?" Stella pushed a bit, tilting her head to one side in an almost... cute way. (Which surprised, Jesse, actually. That was _not_ a mannerism she expected this woman to have.) "Beacontown versus Champion City?"

A few citizens glanced at each other in a sort of worry.

"Surely you think about it as much as I do," Stella continued, putting her hands on her hips again and primly cocking her head to one side.

"Oh boy," Jace mumbled, shaking his head a bit.

... well, Petra _had_ said to play to her ego.

"Yes, that's right... my... 'rival'," Jesse continued, crossing all six of her arms, "I am... here to finally meet face to face." _Even though I didn't even know your name until earlier today. I mean c'mon, if your handwriting is that neat, make your signature legible, please,_ she added mentally.

Stella gave a light, almost casual nod. "Yeah. _That's_ what I thought."

There was a sudden sound, and Jesse glanced down as the gauntlet on her upper right hand abruptly started glowing, the tealish-cyan light illuminating Jesse's face and making her red eye glow slightly brown. " _Jesseeeeeeee..._ " the gauntlet whispered, even as Stella's eyes switched to the gauntlet, before the glow died back down again.

"Ah! I _love_ the glove, by the way. Absolutely darling." She glanced up at a guard standing next to her, both of them nodding in an conspirational way to one another. Because, you know, _that's_ not suspicious at all.

"Because _that_ wasn't suspicious at all," Cassie muttered softly, subsiding when Jace elbowed her in the ribs.

Hey, I just said that.

Stella looked back at Jesse, brushing back a stray lock of hair on the short side. "You wouldn't be interested in _trading_ , would you? Got some fine puppies here," and Jesse was suddenly aware of a tiny ball of gray fur being shoved into her face, making the spider hybrid turn to get a look at the yapping puppy that was now currently half an inch away from her face.

Jace suddenly growled a bit, but when Stella looked at him he just averted his gaze to the floor, expression darkening slightly.

He just _really_ didn't like Stella.

"All free-range, of course," Stella continued, almost oblivious to his reaction.

Jesse frowned over at Stella. "Oh, I _really_ wish I could. Like, _really_. But, I can't," she said, being careful to keep her voice as light and civil as it could get.

Stella just shrugged a bit at that, the guard drawing the puppy back. "Oh, too bad. They're _very_ cute puppies," she said, gesturing with her hand lightly at the bodyguard standing behind her. Casually, he flung his arm into the air, literally _launching a puppy_ straight over the back of his head and (thankfully) into the hands of another citizen. (He ran off with his new puppy.) "And, you know, I heard you needed a new pet, so..."

Jace abruptly put his hands in the air as Jesse's shoulders abruptly tensed. "You know what? I will just go over here where there is no one aggravating and not kill anybody. Yeah. That sounds lovely." He began to march back through the crowd, Cassie glancing after him in surprise- he was usually _much_ more calm...

... well, more _mild_ than this, anyway.

The spider hybrid took a very deep, very shaky breath, in an attempt to keep her rearing temper in control. "Well, I appreciate the concern, Stella, but I've got my hands a bit full with my brother and my pig-kid," and she casually looped Reuben closer to her with one of her lower arms, the pig hybrid being happy to wrap his arms around her and reciprocate the one-armed hug. (Well, in _her_ case it was one-armed, but he did hug her.)

"Okay, hold it," and Petra stepped forward, gold eyes sparking angrily.

Jesse frowned slightly.

Angry Blaze hybrid, angry wolf hybrid who is sort-of-kind-of-maybe _engaged_ to said Blaze hybrid, and the person who was currently making both of them very angry in the same twenty-yard area of space.

This was probably not the best combination.

* * *

 **A/N: ... well, looks like Jace actually is more upset with Stella than he let on before. I mean, considering she threw a wolf puppy and _he's_ a wolf, and also she's pissed off his kind-of fiancee... well, no wonder. **

**I hope he doesn't bite her haha xD**

 **Fun fact: Olivia became an Enderman hybrid solely because A) She suggested the Enderman build back at Endercon and B) she was with Jesse in Soren's End fortress for the longest period of time.**

 **Responses to reviewers!**

 **The French Guest: You'll meet Cassie when you meet Cassie.**

 **RapidSammi: 0-0**

 **S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: (laughs) Yeah, it wasn't the greatest idea.**

 **LunarStarsMoons: Hehehehe :3 / Thanks! / (laughs) YEP. She was very nearly a skeleton hybrid.**

 **ChibiMCSM Crew: Hahaha I am in full agreement with that statement xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: There's actually a reason for that xD Gold is soft like butter, so... hence the name "Miss Butter" xD I asked the lead writer, he said. xD / (laughs) / Probably just a lot of shooting a bow and arrow. Really good aim, maybe.**

 **Infernius Flashfire: Aw :( / But yes, I did have a skeleTON more fun xD**

 **BeliTheGhoti0304: (grins) / (laughs) / Hahahahaha xD**

 **giriri: Indeed. / Yep.**

 **NoItsBecky: Oh, really? Hahaha xD Is she anything like this one, or..?**

 **AquaK13: (grins) / (laughs) Indeed it is. / Yes, Petra is very protective of her puppy dog. Don't mess with her. xD / Yeah, her appearance wasn't that great. (laughs)**

 **Rabbits rule: (shrugs) Well, who knows.**

 **J.M.M: I'm glad! :)**

 **Luna96: No, I don't remember you at all. Who are you again? Lololol JK you were one of my best reviewers on Hybrid, I'm not forgetting you in a hurry. / (laughs) Well, I'm sure I would've made it work, but my idea was mainly that she already had a skeleton in her technically, so it would've been a really boring change.**

 **MooncakeT: I... guess?**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	9. Stella's 'Treasure Room'

"Oh, Petra!" Stella exclaimed, feigning surprise at the sight of the Blaze hybrid. "I almost thought Lluna just came back on her own." And she smirked at one of the bodyguards standing behind her, who smirked back. As if she hadn't seen Petra practically dragging the llama up to her. "What do I owe you? A puppy?"

Cassie rolled her eyes, glancing at Jace, who'd turned back at the comment angrily. (Not that any of the group was surprised, if there was one thing spending so much time with him had taught them it was that he hardly ever walked away from situations that involved his friends. Kind of like Jesse.) "She already has one, you bit-"

Jesse stamped on Cassie's foot before the redhead could finish the statement- she'd learned the hard way that Reuben had _terrific_ hearing.

"No, that wasn't-" Petra spluttered, as Cassie grabbed at her foot with a yelp, overbalanced, and fell over.

Again, it was a _really_ good thing that she'd gotten into the habit of wearing shoulderpads under her cardigan.

"A diamond, maybe?" Stella interrupted, tilting her head and looking at Petra with wide eyes. The Blaze hybrid, who'd never been the most articulate with words, was now completely being thrown off-balance by the blonde woman. Jesse hated to admit it, but Stella was _definitely_ pretty good with words.

"No- I-"

"An _emerald_? Don't push _too_ hard now," Stella continued, obviously getting a kick out of humiliating the Blaze hybrid as the crowd around them began to snicker at the scene.

Petra's face hardened, eyes beginning to spark. "That's- Augh!" she growled.

Jesse crossed all of her arms, deciding to intervene before Petra decided to set Stella on fire, Jace decided to bite her, or something equally disastrous at the hands of the now-somewhat-fuming Cassie Rose beside her happened. "Stop changing the deal, Stella," she told the woman quietly. "It's wrong."

"Well, I never." Stella reached up and flicked some hair back, her expression still a smug grin as she regarded the group in front of her, "The deal hasn't, y'know, 'changed'..."

Jace had managed to come back, arms crossed and expression completely stony, as Petra regained her composure. " _SWORD._ I want sword," she blurted, glaring at Stella as she tapped her chest (Reuben couldn't help but hide a smile at 'I want sword'), " _my_ sword."

Stella flicked her hair back again, and Jesse noticed the way her smile had gone just the _tiniest_ bit more brittle again. "I was _very_ clear. I make trades for treasures," she said primly, and Jesse was honestly starting to find it a little difficult to not get a migraine from her voice. The blonde woman glanced back at a bodyguard nearby, voice going an octave lower in slight irritation. "I think I'm all done here." And with that, she turned smartly on her heel and began to walk away, the bodyguards moving into place to keep Petra from getting closer.

(Not that that would've _done_ anything, Petra could fly, but Petra seemed to be making an effort to get on Stella's good side to get her sword back, and setting the courtyard on fire probably wouldn't have been a good idea.)

"You said you just wanted to 'display' it!" Petra snapped, glaring at Stella and sparks beginning to flit off of her in irritation, "I thought I could still _use_ it!"

Stella had paused, and she turned around again, strolling back towards the group with a strange smile on her face as she shook her head. "Ohhh no. _Honey_ , no..." And she smirked, putting one hand on her hip in an almost condescending way. "You _wanted_ to become my champion. _You_ came to _me,_ remember? In exchange, you got to live _here_ instead of Beacontown."

Jesse's eyes widened.

"Isn't that nice?"

Petra's eyes abruptly stopped glowing with heat, the sparks dying in midair as she glanced almost fearfully at Jesse, the spider hybrid turning to look at her with a mixed expression- filled with shock and confusion and anger and betrayal.

Mostly betrayal.

Cassie was staring at Jace (who simply looked slightly concerned about the whole thing) and Petra with suspicion dancing in her green eyes, while Reuben was looking between the three of them so fast that had he been any older he would've probably ricked his neck.

Stella reacted with mock-surprise as Jesse kept staring at Petra with that mixed expression. "Oh no, was that supposed to be a secret? Oh dear. Petra, sweetie..."

Jesse struggled to regain even the smallest iota of control of her emotions. Perhaps Petra- and okay, maybe even _Jace_ a little bit- had betrayed her a bit.

But they'd come here to get Petra's sword, not to argue about this amongst one another.

So, with a _tremendous_ effort, Jesse managed, through the wave of conflicting emotions that had just slapped her right in the face, "Ohhh we are going to talk about this later, Petra. Jace." She glanced at her twin brother, who winced a bit, letting them both know that they weren't off the hook.

Petra winced, shrinking into herself a bit. "Ahhh I know."

"Well, I think it's about time I go back to _my_ treasure hall, Jesse." And Stella turned around again, still glancing over her shoulder, "by the way, Jesse? _Way_ nicer than yours." And she brushed some hair aside before striding deliberately towards the treasure hall as the entire group exchanged looks. "Do you two know the way out? What am I saying, of course _Petra_ does! If any of you ever want a place in Champion City, just ask!"

"Yeah, if I ever want to have nightmares every night," Jesse mumbled sardonically.

"Like we said..." Jace began sheepishly, shrugging a little bit.

"She's the worst," Petra finished. (You know that a couple has it REALLY bad when they start completing each other's sentences.)

Cassie opened her mouth, and judging by the look in her eye, it was to berate the two about lying to Jesse. Reuben put a stop to that by headbutting her gently in the stomach, shoving her breath out of her lungs and making the redhead go 'oof' slightly.

Jesse had trained him well.

The spider hybrid took the opportunity to chime in before Cassie could recover. "I'm _not_ letting her get away with this. We're getting your sword back." And she smiled a bit at Petra.

"I just don't know _how_ we're gonna do that," Petra mumbled, frowning, before pointing at the treasure hall as discreetly as she could. "Stella's 'treasure room' is right there, but... I've got a pretty bad feeling about those bodyguards of hers."

Taking Jesse's lead, Cassie reluctantly let it go (for now) and said, thoughtfully, "We could... _probably_ sneak in through the puppy kennel, but... that's a _lot_ of barking puppies."

"What's wrong with puppies?" Jace frowned, distracted from the task at hand.

Reuben frowned a bit. "We can handle sneaking through the puppies, right?" And he looked over at Jesse, the others also looking at the spider hybrid.

Jesse tilted her head back, frowning thoughtfully. "Well, if we decide to go deeper into our 'mob' form, and Cassie takes the bones _Stacy_ let me have..." A sly sort of smile spread across her face. "I'm pretty sure we can handle sneaking through some puppies. Let's stealth it up."

Cassie nodded at that, a small grin coming over her face. "Gotcha."

"Sounds good to me," Petra agreed, grinning at them.

"Okayy~!" and Reuben beamed at Jesse (who reached down and ruffled his hair a little bit).

"Cool," and Jace gave his twin sister a thumbs' up signal.

Sneaking _into_ the building was the easy part. (The guards were laughing quite loudly, but honestly Jesse was surprised that they hadn't noticed four hybrids and a very vibrantly-colored-haired girl sneaking into the building.)

"Awww," and Petra grinned from where she was kneeling, clasping her hands together and staring at the tiny puppy with sparkling eyes. (Jace jokingly pouted at her a bit.) "That thing is so cu..." She trailed off as the puppy leaped into a small fenced-off area (that wasn't very high) and began to run around with a bunch of other puppies, yapping away happily. "... ohhh no."

Jesse glanced over at the others, fluidly flicking the bones out of her pocket and sliding them into Cassie's hands. "Don't worry, guys- just go more 'hybrid' than before, and we can probably make it through."

She turned her gaze forward again, slouching forward. There was a moment where she was just standing there, slouching slightly, before her upper body suddenly whipped down towards the ground, uppermost four legs slamming into the ground. Her green eye flooded blood-red, her canines sharpened abruptly, and her back legs spun around in the sockets rapidly so that it looked like she was doing a crabwalk with the lower legs/arms and crawling with the ones in the front.

Albeit with a giant, green gauntlet on one of her hands. I mean _honestly_ , it was just inconvenient to move around with.

Petra's eyes glowed red-hot, her skin beginning to glow. And I don't mean she looked healthy, I mean she was _literally_ giving off this warm, golden light. Blaze Rods slowly began to piece together, and the entire group could feel the immediate temperature around her beginning to rise dramatically. Her feet slowly hovered off the ground until the already-quite-tall Petra was hovering a good foot above the floor.

Reuben just hopped onto Jesse's back- due to being more of a 'human hybrid' than a 'mob hybrid' like the others (meaning that he was a pig that'd become half human, rather than a human who'd become half-mob), some strange constraint kept him from going into a more 'mob' like form. However, happily that meant he was already quite mob-like compared to the others.

Jace dropped to all fours, eyes narrowing. The boy's back legs abruptly switched the joint around, making his knee clock backwards so that he looked more like a traditional dog. The picture was completed as his canines sharpened, a bit like Jesse's but much more like a dog's teeth, with almost all of his teeth beginning to gain a sharper edge as well.

The entire group exchanged slight grins at that. Their little 'mission' was more than a little serious, but this just looked so _cool_.

Jesse carefully crept up the wall using the doorway, latching herself onto the ceiling. The glove made this more than a little awkward, but she'd actually gotten used to having the thing on her hand- dob a bit of slightly-sticky web on there and she could still crawl around like she was used to. (Couldn't shoot string out of that hand, but that was why she had five other ones.) Reuben hung upside down, but he'd locked in, so he was fine, and Jesse and Reuben quickly made it to the other side of the room with no problem whatsoever. Not even a yap from any of the puppies.

Petra slowly hovered across the room, attracting a bit of attention from the dogs, mainly due to the _golden sticks_ that were spiraling around her, but since Cassie was moving along at the same time, the redhead with the black-rimmed glasses just tossed the two bones that she had to distract the puppies before the two of them quickly moved out of there, the guards moving away to probably guard the puppy kennel entrance.

(Which they probably _should_ have been doing earlier.)

With all of the puppies currently occupied with their bones, the wolf hybrid quickly made his way across the floor, padding across quite quietly before rearing up onto his hind legs. Abruptly, his knees snapped back into a normal position, and he staggered from the awkward position before landing right back on his butt.

His kinda-maybe-sort-of-fiancee couldn't help but snigger a bit as she pulled him back into a standing position, the glowing suddenly stopping and her eyes going back to a normal, not-quite-glowing state. (As it was, it was a good thing she was wearing a glove on one hand.)

Reuben clambered off as Jesse's limbs rotated back into the anatomically correct (for humans, anyway) position, the spider hybrid pushing herself back to her feet and looking around the room the entire group had just snuck into, a look of slight confusion coming over her face. "This is Stella's 'treasure room'?" she asked Petra, slowly.

She inclined her head in a slow nod. "Yeah."

The room _itself_ was nicely built but the 'treasures' resting on the pedestals were... well...

Cassie frowned as she strolled along one wall, staring at the treasures rather blankly. "Trophy heads... gold pants... sponge blocks..." She blinked at this one. "A diamond hoe...?!"

"Mmhm. All bought from other people," Jace said simply, frowning at the wall full of stuff. Junk, most people would probably call it.

Petra scowled at the wall. "Half of them still have the _nametags_ of other people still on them."

Jesse just frowned a bit, gaze softening slightly. "Wow... that... actually just makes me kinda sad. She thinks that all it takes is having a room full of treasure..." _Sure_ , the Order Hall's treasure room didn't have as much _stuff_ in it, but it was more valuable, and almost every item had some sort of personal story behind them. Reuben's old Ender Dragon head (Jesse had tripped over it one day while going for a walk, the old thing covered in dirt and moss and leaves), the hybrid armor Ivor had made her, even the Redstone Heart...

"Even if you got it from other people," Cassie mumbled, frowning at the wall herself. Her brow furrowed a bit, and Winslow miaowed a bit as he picked up the slightly subdued vibe now coming from his owner.

"Not letting her keep _mine_ , though," Petra said in a low voice, glancing around the room, "it must be in here _somewhere..._ " She hesitated, before rubbing her head awkwardly. "Listen, about what Stella said before, about being Champion City's 'Hero in Residence' and living here with Jace...? It's really no big deal. It's... y'know. Nothing."

Cassie crossed her arms at Jace, frowning at him. "You've been living with Petra, right? So you knew about this. Why didn't you tell us?" The last sentence came out much more sharply and accusing than the rest of the question.

Jace simply shrugged a bit. "Petra asked me not to. If it had turned out to be really important, I would've told you about it. Neither of us really thought it was necessary," he said simply.

Jesse just kept looking at the two, and Petra's shoulders suddenly sagged a bit. "Man... I wish you didn't have to find out about it this way," she said quietly, staring at the floor.

The spider hybrid just kept regarding Petra quietly, a frown ticking over her mouth.

"... _argh._ " Petra suddenly walked past Jesse, sparks beginning to spit off of her again.

Jesse blinked in surprise. Petra was mad all of a sudden, and she had no idea why.

"No matter what happens, no matter _how_ much I do, _you're_ the big hero. You probably don't even _remember_ what it's like adventuring out there, _scrounging_ for resources." The Blaze hybrid stormed past a now-frowning Cassie, a wincing Jace, and a very much confused Reuben, coming to a halt at a window with her arms crossed.

Jesse glanced over at the others, who just stared back at her in slight bewilderment. She carefully began to make her way over to Petra, the others slowly following behind her, as Petra's shoulders started... almost _trembling_. "You were on time today. That was _great_. But it's hard to ignore that- except for Jace, _none_ of my friends are ever _around_ anymore. Do you _know_ how it feels to show up for quest after quest and just hearing- 'Aw man, I'm sorry. Next time! Next time!'" Her arms dropped from where she'd sarcastically thrown them in the air.

Jesse took the initiative the literal _second_ Petra ran out of steam. "I'm sorry, Petra. I didn't know you felt that strongly about it," she said simply and quietly.

Cassie couldn't help shaking her head a bit at that. Jesse had done _nothing_ wrong and yet she was still apologizing. Classic Jesse.

Petra seemed to have gotten that sort of feeling as well, because she immediately looked up at Jesse, a blank look on her face. The spider hybrid was just standing there, hands resting at her sides loosely as she regarded Petra with a slightly downcast look.

She looked as though she were about to respond, when suddenly her gaze switched to something else. "... no-!" And she moved past Jesse, staring at a pedestal next to a diamond pickaxe that was empty. "Where'd it go? Where'd she put it?" Her voice was rising in both pitch and volume in her anxiety.

Cassie turned around to see where Petra was staring. "You're _sure_ it was here?" she asked, lifting a hand and pointing at the pedestal, Petra nodding almost _frantically_ as the other redhead turned to look over at her.

And _that's_ when they heard noises behind them. "Ha! Hi-yah!"

The five of them all pivoted on the spot to see Stella literally _backing_ into the room.

Jace grinned, sounding amused. "Shhh, check it out!" And the whole group quickly dodged to the side and hid behind the pedestal that the pedestal that Petra had pointed at was resting on.

"That's right!" Stella cheered softly, "it's Petra, armed with her might sword Miss Butter!"

And she turned around with another little 'hi-yah!', grinning cheerfully.

Jace was literally furiously stifling giggles, while Cassie was biting her lip _hard_ and Reuben was just giggling softly as Stella kept swiping around with the sword, being careful not to hit anything with it. And I will say this, even _Winslow_ was starting to snigger a bit. "This is one of the greatest things I've _ever_ seen," Cassie cackled softly.

Jesse blinked at this, tilting her head. "This is... actually, it's kind of adorable," she said, a smile plastered on her face. You could practically _hear_ the smile in her voice if you didn't see her face.

And, I mean, she wasn't _wrong..._

Stella kept approaching, swinging the sword around in a careful way (probably to avoid causing injury or damage to anything. "And by her side is her best friend, the greatest hero in the world, Jesse!" She hefted the sword into the air.

Everyone stopped giggling in surprise, glancing over at Jesse. The spider hybrid just looked pleasantly surprised by this little declaration.

Stella was grinning slightly. "Together, they can take on-" Her eyes suddenly gravitated down to the group crouching behind the pedestal, widening as her face paled a bit in embarrassment. " _Uhhhh_ hi!" She rapidly dropped the sword, the gold sword clanging loudly on the ground as she nervously ran a hand over her hair. "Hello."

Seeing that there really wasn't much point in hiding anymore, the five of them neatly stood up, filing out from where they'd been hiding, blinking at Stella slightly.

"Uh, you- you should not be here!" Stella exclaimed, trying to adopt a more strict tone but failing miserably due to the blush that was rushing to her cheeks, the rest of the group moving to stand in a little cluster across from the dark-skinned woman.

"This... this is, um... hm, this is incredibly awkward," and Stella ran a hand over her hair again, staring at the group with a rather embarrassed expression on her face. Actually, it was a little odd to see her not completely in control for once.

Jesse smiled slightly, lacing her hands together behind her back in an almost shy way. "I... gotta tell ya, Stella... I'm actually a little flattered here. Didn't know you thought so highly of me." Jace, Petra, Cassie, and Reuben all grinned at the rather pleased response from the spider hybrid.

Stella quickly regained some of her composure again, gaze hardening slightly. "Uh, no- no! I, I was being sarcastic, because I _hate_ you!" And she pointed at Jesse almost accusingly.

Jesse exchanged a deadpan look with the rest of her friends, not exactly sure how to respond to that.

(Especially since they were all quite certain that she was just trying to cover for the situation she'd just thrust herself into.)

"You can have your dumb sword back," Stella droned, gesturing at the gold sword on the floor, which Petra was quick to step forward and reclaim before Stella could change her mind again. "Let's just... pretend this whole thing _never_ happened and I will let you go."

There was a few moments of awkward silence where the entire group was just staring at her and she was staring back, before Jesse shrugged a little bit and moved towards the exit. Stella glared at her, stamping her foot a bit. "I won't forget this, Jesse. History will remember this as an important day in our rivalry!" she shouted after the spider hybrid.

Cassie rolled her eyes, Petra scowled a bit, Jace shook his head, and Reuben just giggled a bit.

Jesse just glanced over her shoulder, giving Stella a cheerful smile and a wave. "Okay, have a nice day!" she called back mildly.

It might've just been her imagination, but Jesse could've _sworn_ that just a half-second before she turned to face the front again... Stella had waved back a little bit, glare softening slightly.

* * *

 **A/N: Does anyone see anything slightly up with Stella?**

 **Hm, the text messages have been quite quiet for a bit...**

 **Fun fact: Hybrid was never supposed to get past maybe the 1st ten chapters when I started out with it.**

 **Whaaaaaaat I have almost 2000 views on this story already? 0-0 And almost 100 reviews?**

 **Whaaaaa**

 **Responses to reviewers!**

 **LunarTheMooncake: (laughs) I'm glad you like the chapter. / Especially when the Blaze hybrid is the wolf hybrid's fiancee, haha. / :3**

 **TheAmberShadow: Yep. :3 / Right? I couldn't stop giggling when that happened (it's actually kind of adorable, in a weird way xD) / I think she will :3**

 **AquaK13: Well, but also she's Petra xD / Indeed. / Hahahahahaha xD / Jace didn't actually have much to do with it; Petra's the one who made the deal. / (laughs) / Bai!**

 **BeliTheGhoti0304: It's not _quite_ that, but that IS one factor as to why Jace is so angry. / (laughs) That's one way of putting it.**

 **Emily The Avenger: Indeed, right? I wonder who it is. / (laughs)**

 **Kaos Ruin: ... huh, that's actually a good question. I have no idea. / I'm glad it's up and running as well! :3**

 **NoItsBecky: Ahhhh. / Yep, haha xD**

 **Rabbits rule: (laughs) / Yeah, Lluna isn't exactly all that happy when that happens... / It's a good thing that guy was there to catch it, because I think I would've been a lot more angry if it had gotten injured. / Please don't, Stella's- ah, that'd be spoilers. Never mind. / (laughs)**

 **giriri: (laughs) I see your point. / Mmm, I rarely have time to do that. I might look into it.**

 **Peculiar Ann: Ahhh, sorry, I don't have a tendency of putting other people's OCs in stories. I always feel like I'm writing the character wrong, unless I know said character VERY well. Sorry! I'm very glad you guys like the story, though!**

 **Well, that's about it for this time! See ya next chapter, g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	10. Charged Creepers and Jack

Petra hefted her sword into the air with a metallic _swoosh,_ the golden blade making the setting sun flash red on the blade. "Rahhh!" she said, grinning like a maniac (albeit a very happy, gold-eyed, sane maniac), "feels _so good_ to have you back!" She lowered her sword again, grinning at the other members of the group as they traipsed along beside her (minus Reuben, who was riding piggyback (hehe) on Jesse's back, fast asleep. It had been a pretty tiring day for him.) "Thank you guys _so_ much for your help. I know it got a little... weird back there... I appreciate you still helping me anyway."

"Of course, sweetie," and Jace gave her a kiss on the cheek, making her beam (almost literally) and kiss him right back.

Cassie made a joking gagging sound (which made the spider hybrid gently elbow her in the ribs), Jesse grinning over at Petra from her very short height. (Seriously, 7 years and she grew an inch? Are you kidding me?) "Hey, it's all in the past Petra. Just happy to reunite you with your favorite deadly weapon." She blinked a moment later. "Wow, I _never_ thought I'd ever say that sentence in my life."

Petra grinned and pumped the fist not holding her sword. "Ohh, and it feels _so_ good!"

The five of them drew level with the Heckmouth sign, and that's when Jesse's phone buzzed again.

Automatically she flicked it out, getting ready to block the number-

 _Unknown: LOOK OUT._

Jesse actually stopped in her tracks, staring at the message. "What the...?" she mumbled, getting ready to check the text messages more intently- and _that's_ when the creepy whisper from earlier started up again.

" _Jesssseeeeeeeeee..._ "

The spider hybrid looked around, before, with a sort of mechanical thunking, the Prismarine gauntlet on her arm abruptly began glowing a ghostly greenish-blue, the more 'crystal-like' areas illuminating the darkening area a bit. It actually reminded her of the Order's amulet, way back when. The color was a bit like Lukas's eyes, but _definitely_ more on the green end of the spectrum.

Everyone came to a halt, staring as Jesse stepped back and lifted her uppermost right arm and turned around a bit, staring at the gauntlet quizzically. "What is that?" Petra asked warily as she sheathed her sword, the spider hybrid staring at the gauntlet on her arm intently.

Suddenly, a loud, rumbling _thud_ rang out, the phone in Jesse's middle-right hand buzzing almost simultaneously.

 _Unknown: Move out of the way._

The spider hybrid turned to see the sign, the patch of dirt making the ground tremble beneath their feet, pebbles scattering everywhere. And then again, and again, each _thud_ getting louder, and louder, until-

A hint of smoke puffed out of the ground.

Jesse lunged forward, lowest set of arms keeping a still-sleeping Reuben pressed to her back, tackling Petra, Jace, and Cassie (and Winslow, I guess) out of the way as an explosion ripped through the ground where they'd been standing, all of them smacking into hard stone with a yelp or a (soft!) swear.

The small, dirt-covered hole from before had been completely blown to pieces, and in its place was the biggest hole any of them had ever seen, leading down into the cavern and glowing a poisonous green-blue color- the same shade as the glowing parts on Jesse's gauntlet.

"Sign didn't stop that," Jesse mumbled, quickly scrambling back to her feet and yanking Cassie back up as well, the redhead adjusting her glasses quickly.

"Or those," Petra said softly, and a loud, crackling hissing came to their ears as an army of creepers came soaring up out of the ground.

With blue lightning flickering over them.

"Whoa!" Jace blinked a lot, eyes widening. "That's a _lot_ of creepers!"

"And they're charged...?! That should be impossible!" Cassie blurted as she nearly fumbled her axe, as Jesse whipped out her two iron blades, Petra pulling out Miss Butter in perfect sync with Jace's own sword.

"Tell THEM that!" Jesse hissed, and she charged forward and, with a quick twirl of the blades, sent all of the approaching one flying backwards with a yell. The flashing creepers flew backwards before detonating, blasting a few small holes near the edges of the hole. Jesse swung the swords down on another creeper-

Both of them snapping in half as she brought it down on the creeper, killing it on the spot but leaving her with two useless sword hilts in her hand. And a minute later, she didn't even have _that_ left- it exploded into smoke.

"Gah! Stupid- cheap sword!" Jesse hissed in dismay, deja vu shooting through her as she rapidly backed away. Except the moment that she was sort of re-experiencing didn't have charged creepers. Or Jace. Or Cassie. Just a ton of zombies and Petra with her pickaxe.

"Gotcha covered, Jesse!" Petra slid in neatly and lashed out with Miss Butter, cutting the charged creeper that was currently approaching in half almost _perfectly._ She kissed the sword, making all of them grin at her a bit despite the odd situation. " _Mwah-_ SO good to have you back!" she grinned at it, making Cassie chuckle as she charged off in another direction, smashing through an approaching creeper.

Jesse ducked out of the way of an approaching charged creeper, which was then greeted with a sword to the face, courtesy of her twin. He patted his sister on the back quickly before dashing at another one several yards away. Jesse nodded, before hearing hissing and spinning around to see a group of _four_ creepers leaping out of the pit and approaching her and Reuben.

"Oh _no_ you don't!" and Jesse impulsively charged straight at them, swinging the arm with the gauntlet on it back as her fingers curled into a ball, making a (rather bulky) fist... and then pivoting and slamming her fist straight into the group of creepers, sending them all flying back into the pit, where they proceeded to detonate violently.

Jesse continued standing there, fist extended out towards the pit... and then threw her arms up into the air (the ones not currently hugging Reuben). " _WHOO!_ That would've been dumb! If it wasn't so _awesome!_ " she cheered, voice rising into a near squeak from how fun that'd been.

The phone buzzed, reminding Jesse that she hadn't actually put it away yet, and she glanced down at the screen.

 _Unknown: Good job._

Jesse glanced at it, before looking back down at the hole.

She should probably find out who this mystery person was now...

But first and foremost, block off this giant hole before any more charged creepers could get spit out.

"C'mon!" she shouted, as Cassie sliced through another creeper and the entire group whipped around to face her from where they'd gotten all spread out, "we need to get this thing covered up again!"

Working quickly, the four of them mined out a huge section of dirt, before racing back over to the Heckmouth and hastily filling up the top part of the hole, slowly blocking off more and more light until finally the their last block of dirt was thrown down, the last bit of glowing green light was abruptly sealed off, and there were no more charged creepers.

Upon which the four of them promptly all collapsed to the floor, Jesse being careful to flop forward and not backwards, since Reuben was still sound asleep on her back, all of them gasping for breath.

"I... I don't know how we're going to get this to hold," Jesse managed in a slight croak. Her throat was now suddenly parched now that there was no immediate danger. "That Heckmouth blew right through the _ground_."

"First your Prismarine gauntlet getting stuck on your hand," Cassie managed through her own gasps, "then that Prismarine pit spitting out creepers..."

"We need to get to Jack's _fast,_ " Petra panted out, from where she was sprawled on the ground on top of Jace (he absentmindedly began running his fingers through her hair, not that she seemed to mind).

"Yeah..." Jesse glanced up at Petra, "I hope that treasure hunter knows as much as you say he does."

Petra looked completely exhausted right now, but she still hovered back to her feet smoothly, eyes glowing with determination and... well... maybe a bit of muted _excitement_. "He _does_. He's _gotta_. C'mon- I'll show you guys the way." And she started racing along the path again, the others hastily getting up and following. (Jace just shifted into an all-fours position and bolted after her.)

Jesse got to all eights and followed- before pausing for a moment, absentmindedly noticing the rumble of thunder as rain began pouring down from the heavens, and glancing back at the phone in her middle arm. Whoever was on the other end had _known_ that the gauntlet was going to whisper. _Known_ that the Heckmouth would rip straight through the ground.

Before she could stop and think about it, the spider hybrid lifted the phone up and tapped out a message carefully.

 _Who are you?_

One moment ticked by. And then another.

"Jesse?"

The spider hybrid looked up to see Cassie doing her best to shield Winslow from the rain, waiting patiently for the spider hybrid despite the fact that she was getting soaked. "You coming?"

"... yeah." Jesse slipped the phone back into her pocket and scuttled after Cassie, shoving that matter to the back of her head for now.

Work on shutting the Heckmouth, and _then_ she could worry about this mystery person.

* * *

The gates opened with a deep grinding, the five of them charging into the city in a hurry. The glowstone lamps cut through the dreary rainy day, people chatting with one another and trying to get to a dry location. Petra didn't slow down, but kept dashing through the streets until she came to a stop, looking around. "Welcome to Bad Luck Alley," she introduced, spreading her arms wide at the small section of the city that most of the citizens kind of... avoided at night.

Cassie whistled. "Huh. Somehow this place looks a _lot_ more different than in the daytime," she mumbled. It was hard to tell if she meant Bad Luck Alley, or just Beacontown in general.

"Huh. I didn't even know people came down here at night," Jesse said, looking around and putting her lower arms on her hips.

Jace spotted a couple staring at them. Cheerfully, he lifted an arm and waved, tail swishing around a bit more slowly than before but definitely still wagging.

The couple stared for a moment longer, before spotting Jesse, and then rushing through a glowing doorway and slamming the door.

"Well, yeah," and Petra shrugged nonchalantly as Jesse shifted the sleeping pig hybrid on her back. (Man, if he could sleep after all that excitement then he must've been _really_ tuckered out.) "It's the cool part."

Jesse scowled playfully at the Blaze hybrid as they started walking inside, the vines dangling from the trees and relentlessly dripping rainwater. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Aw, y'know. These are the people who like to live... off the grid. Outside the rules. And you're... kinda 'The Boss'."

Jace blinked.

Well that explained the couple's reaction.

"Never thought I'd hear _that_ about Jesse," Cassie teased, making Jesse roll her eyes and swat the redhead gently.

"It's just the way the world works," Petra continued, glancing back at Jesse as curls of steam began rising off of her. Since her body heat was rising, Petra was either just trying to keep herself warm... or she was getting nervous. Maybe both. "That's, like, the trade-off when you're in charge, y'know that?"

" _You_ still hang out with me, though," Jesse pointed out, unable to hide the tiny grin on her face as they all stepped into the room. The glowstone lamps were still regularly spaced, but... well, in a bit more of a 'unique' way. Jesse was fairly certain it wasn't _strictly_ within regulations, but hey- _Radar_ was the one who had suggested the regulations, not her, and even then it was mostly for safety. If these people wanted to live a bit more on the dangerous side, well, who was Jesse to stop them?

Petra shrugged a bit, leading Jesse through the streets as rain kept pouring down. (Jace was attempting to keep Reuben dry and failing miserably. At least it was fairly warm out, so no danger of the kid catching a cold.) "Well, yeah, but that's just because I knew you when you were still a nerd in a treehouse."

Jesse was still grinning at her friend, and Petra rolled her eyes and punched the other girl on the shoulder. "Okay. You _are_ kinda cool. Sometimes."

With that, Petra came to a halt, squinting through the rain down an offshaft of the street. " _Should_ be somewhere down here..." She paused, thoughtfully, before tacking on a weak, "I think."

Cassie frowned at Petra, halfheartedly using her hair to shield Winslow. "Wait, have you never been here before? You said you knew a guy-"

"Okay, not " _know him_ , know him", I know _of_ him," Petra quickly defended herself, steam beginning to rise off of her again.

Jace gave his fiancee a slightly quirked brow and a playful grin, despite the clear jealousy vibes he was sending off. (He thought no one could notice. Jesse knew him too well for that.)

"... okay, fine. He's a legend, alright? He was once one of the greatest treasure hunters in the whole world and..." The red-haired woman took a deep breath. "He's _kind of_ a hero of mine." She started fidgeting with her fingers. "What should I say?" She started circling around in circles, wide-eyed, steam now beginning to pour off of her like nobody's business. "What should I do? I can't believe I'm about to meet _Jack._ "

Cassie blinked in surprise. She glanced over at Jace, who was just shaking his head in amusement.

Petra, the Blaze hybrid, the former 'cool mercenary' (now she was more of a 'hot' mercenary, she supposed), the warrior...

Was _fangirling_.

Petra was _fangirling_.

"What if he invites me to go adventuring with him?" Petra blurted, as Jesse strolled over to where Petra was now fidgeting wildly, steam pouring off of her so copiously that Jace nearly couldn't find her as he also approached. "I've heard _legends_ about how great he is!"

"Well, if I can offer some advice? Best thing to do around your heroes is just act like yourself," Jesse said cheerfully, patting the other girl on the back. "Otherwise, it's..." She paused, making a slight face at some, uh, _previous_ encounters she'd had with fans who'd attempted to 'play it cool' with her. "Weird for everyone."

Petra inhaled shakily and let it out, equally shakily. "Be myself. Got it. Got it." With that, they kept walking into the offshoot, looking around and scanning the signs for a hint of where this 'Jack' guy might be. Well, Jesse, Jace, and Petra did- Cassie was furiously trying to polish the rain off of her glasses so she _could_ help look at the signs.

Jace trotted along, before coming to a stop near a building that (if you looked up enough) looked like a giant pirate ship. He checked the sign, noticing a few chests in the front and a few flowers that were placed in odd spots, as if the owner had spotted the flower and set it outside as an afterthought. "'Jack and Nurm's Adventure Emporium'," he read off the sign, everyone coming over to see what he was looking at.

Jesse put a hand on her hip, a grin coming over her face. "Hm, _this_ looks promising."

"Yep- that's our place." Petra grinned a moment later, looking over at her friends. "Man- I've _always_ wanted an excuse to come here." And she put her hands to her mouth and did a little dance in place.

Jace grinned at her. "That was cute."

"Shut up, Jace, I don't do cute."

"Oh yes you do."

"Nah, that's your job." Petra gave him another kiss on the cheeks, Cassie making a joking gagging face and nearly making Jesse laugh aloud. As it was, she still made a rather odd sound as she regained her composure. And with that, they opened the doors and stepped in, Cassie being quick to shut the door behind them.

Compared to the outdoors, the interior was warmly lit (if slightly dimly). Now that Petra wasn't standing in the rain, her clothes were drying at a prodigious rate. Meanwhile, the others were still dripping on the wooden floor (although Jace did shake himself off furiously, getting _himself_ mostly dry but kind of soaking Jesse and Cassie. He'd given them a sheepish look upon spotting it.)

The room was a huge mishmash of things, potions cluttering up shelves and precious items resting on shelves, although there were also a few that were simply encased by glass. Stained glass decorated the upper floors, shelves cluttering up the room (in a somehow organized way), while various armors and plants also served to make the room appear more homey.

"Oh. Wow." Petra grinned as she rushed around the room, staring at the items on display and reading the signs that accompanied them. "'The Upper Lowlands'? 'Spider-Peak Mountain?' 'The Ice Crags of Doom'? It's just like I told you!" she kept whispering, eyes literally glowing with unbridled excitement, "Jack might be the best adventurer in town! This stuff is from all over the world!"

"Uh, I think you mean 'best adventurers in town AFTER US'," Jesse corrected, turning around from where she'd been looking at the stuff.

Petra blinked, looking surprised by the reaction. "Oh. Well, yeah. Of course I do." And she nodded a little. "... you're not _jealous_ , are you? Because... that sounded _kinda_ jealous."

"... maybe a little," Jesse admitted, shrugging and reaching up absentmindedly to wring out her hair.

Cassie grinned at her blunt honesty.

"Aww, Jesse," and Petra grinned at the spider hybrid, "don't be so insecure. _Just 'cause_ I'm excited to meet this guy doesn't mean that I think you're any less cool, or that I love you any less," and she directed the last part at Jace, who perked up immensely at that.

The spider hybrid grinned at that, before throwing her arms around Petra in a tight hug. The Blaze hybrid stumbled right back into Jace's own arms, and Cassie rolled her eyes a bit before joining in on the group hug. How could she not, after all?

After a minute, they all broke out of the hug again, grinning at each other, before looking around the room, Jesse shifting Reuben a bit again from where he was on her back. Jesse glanced around before spotting something- a sign that read 'PUSH FOR ASSISTANCE'.

She regarded the button for a moment, before she lifted the upper arm with the glove and let gravity pull it down, the glove clunking down on the button and making a buzzing sound ring through the room.

There was a full three seconds of silence.

And then a throat cleared, making them all whip around to look behind them. Leaning on a wall and being backlit (or, well, silhouetted) against a faintly glowing object was the source of the gravelly, rather deep voice.

"Welcome to Jack and Nurm's Adventure Emporium."

* * *

 **A/N: Haha, yes! I wanted to end right there x3**

 **Fun fact: Cassie has stopped wearing very strong perfume since Episode 6, mainly because she only wore it to keep Winslow from getting annoyed from the scent of pumpkins that she had all the time. She doesn't have it ALL the time anymore, but it's small enough that Winslow's gotten used to it.**

 **Responses to reviewers!**

 **Lunar the Mooncake: (laughs) / Hahahahaha xD / Thanks fam :3**

 **Emily The Avenger: Hahaha xD**

 **AquaK13: (chuckles) I'm basing this on my gameplay xD / Hahahaha xD / (chuckles) / I didn't even care how weird it was, I just thought it was super cute./ (chuckles again) / Yep!**

 **The** **Amber Shadow: (chuckles) I like it too. / Yeah, it's cute :3 / (simply grins a bit) / Woops, typo xD**

 **S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Hahahaha! Yep xD**

 **Toni42: I'm glad you like it! / Yeah, I think it might! / I'm glad you like it so much, and yeah, that part's great xD**

 **Rabbits rule: (laughs)**

 **giriri: She wouldn't ever do that, but it's a funny idea. xD**

 **InsaneAcrobat: (chokes) / AHAHAHAHAHA xD True / (chuckles) / No spoilers~ But a maybe to the bloopers/bonus scenes.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	11. Curse

" _Ohmygosh_ ," Petra gasped, grabbing Jace's arm and shaking her fiancee a bit, gold eyes actually beginning to _spark_ in excitement. "It's him. It's Jack." She paused a moment later, grinning like a (sane) madman at Jack. "Sorry, I'm- I'm a _big_ fan."

"You pushed the button," Jack continued, a tinge of amusement in his gravely voice noise. "Very, very brave."

Jesse's brow quirked a little bit in confusion, and she raised her eyebrow at the other man, pausing for a moment. (She also took the time to shift Reuben into a slightly less precarious position, he'd been starting to lean a tad too far to the right.) "I mean, I don't know how _brave_ it was, I was just doing what the sign said."

Cassie and Jace proceeded to snort behind their hands in perfect sync.

Only Jesse would be able to deliver that line and not sound sarcastic in the least.

Jack chuckled a bit. "Ha. There are lots of 'signs' in the world... not everyone's brave enough to follow them."

Jesse shared a glance with the others, Reuben still fast asleep on her back. (Man when this kid sleeps, he _sleeps_.) Petra was grinning, Jace had the tiniest smirk on his face (from Jesse, not because of what Jack said), Cassie had a brow raised (she wasn't quite _doing_ it right but it's the thought that counts), and Jesse had a faintly confused look on her face. They then turned back to where Jack had been a moment before- and Jesse involuntarily gasped.

Petra's grin widened (which none of them had thought was even _possible_ ), while both of Cassie's brows went straight up, and Jace let out a low wolf-whistle.

Jack was nowhere to be seen.

"The Warriors of the Whispering Mountain call me 'The Stab-Walker," Jack's gravelly voice abruptly resumed from _behind_ them, making them turn to stare in his direction- to see him leaning against a wall, once again, and not facing them.

At least he was in the light a bit more this time- Jesse could actually see that he had brown hair, was clad in nothing but a vest on his torso (she resisted the urge to look up at the ceiling), a set of brown fingerless gloves and a pair of pale gray leather pants.

"The Air Titans of the East call me 'He Who Slashes Like Thunder'. But you may call me..." And he turned around, revealing a nose that looked like it may have been broken at least once before, a full beard, and a set of striking eyes. One was dark, almost black...

And the other one was a dead gray.

"Jack," he finished the introduction, putting his hands together in an almost Oriental fashion (ugh, that reminded Jesse a bit of one of her B-list villains back in Guizhou. What was their name again? 'The Samurai Kabuki'? No, that was Tokyo, not Guizhou) and bowing to them, a dead serious look on his face.

"Does he always talk like that?" Jace mumbled under his breath, before catching his breath as Jesse gently elbowed him in the ribs with one of her lower arms. Petra surely would've done it, but right now the Blaze hybrid was staring at Jack with her hands clasped to her mouth, bouncing in place in excitement.

" _So_ cool," she whispered, eyes literally glowing with joy.

The spider hybrid turned back to the front, giving him a friendly smile. "Nice to meet you! Love your shop," she said brightly.

"'Course it is, and 'course you do. Pleasure to have you in today," Jack said, grinning at the group with his own friendly smile, before strolling over to the sort of 'desk' the block of wood that the button was on provided. "So, what can I do for you today?" The others all scooted aside, allowing Jesse to sidle straight in front of the block of wood, "Desert temple? Woodland mans-"

Jesse lifted her right arm (the one clad with the gauntlet) and let it thud heavily (and with a slightly _metallic_ sound) onto the 'counter'/'desk'/whatever you want to call it, making Jack jump back, eyes widening in shock. "ss _ssAIEE-_ whoa!"

Reuben suddenly stirred a bit, poking his head over Jesse's shoulder. "Mm?" he asked, drowsily. (Oh sure, when the Heckmouth outright blows up he sleeps through the whole thing. But have Jesse quietly thud an oversized gauntlet onto a table and he wakes up. I will never understand children's internal sleep schedules.)

"Yeah. _That's_ what we're here for," Jesse said simply.

Jack backed away a few steps, and the lighting wasn't fantastic so it was a bit hard to tell... but Jack _definitely_ looked a little like he was trembling a bit. He came to a stop a good three feet away, cleared his throat sharply, and went back to trembling a bit. "Wow... huh. C-crazy glove you got there. Not that, uh.. not that I've ever s-seen one before. Looks real crazy though... crazy stuff."

Jesse frowned. It seemed as though she was really dredging something bad up with this glove trapped on her arm. And really, she hated having to drag bad stuff up for people to re-experience, but... well, in their current situation, she didn't really have a choice.

"'Never seen it before'?" Jace interjected, frowning in slight disbelief. "My fiancee here-" He proceeded to _very subtly_ tug Petra closer to him, arm looping around her waist in a protective way that made Petra glance at him. "Said you know more about this stuff than anybody."

"She did indeed," Cassie backed up the wolf hybrid.

"Yeah, c'mon, Jack!" and Petra softened the almost _annoyed_ statement with a smile.

Reuben nodded vigorously, having found out from the little context that he had that they were at Jack's, they were trying to get him to help with the whole glove-stuck-on-Jesse's-hand issue, and he had seen the glove before.

Yeah, he was one smart kid.

"I... that is..." Jack said slowly, before taking a shaky breath and walking out from behind the counter, pacing the floor with an almost frightened look on his face. "Found it on top of a creepy bottomless pit, right? Spitting out monsters?"

"Yeah!" Jesse nodded, following after him with Reuben poking his head out over her shoulder. "And it had a slot with, like, a weird symbol?"

Jack let out a low sigh, turning back around to shake his head at the group, gaze hardening a bit. "You should have _never_ picked up that gauntlet. It's not for us mortals to tamper with."

"But I... _didn't_ pick it up." Jesse frowned. "I wasn't even going to try to pick it up- it just suddenly flew right onto my hand."

"Yeah, Jesse wasn't anywhere close to _touching_ the gauntlet. Sure, she was close _to_ the gauntlet, but not to touch it," Cassie nodded in agreement. "We even got text messages right before saying _not_ to touch it."

Jack's brow creased in confusion this time. "Really?" he asked, sounding more surprised than anything else.

"Really," and Reuben nodded vigorously at Jack. Jacks's surprise seemed to confirm to Jesse that _that_ hadn't happened last time he'd spotted the gauntlet...

So why had it happened with _her?_ Why _her?_

"I don't get it, though... what exactly is the big deal here?" Jace asked, frowning at Jack. "It's a glove that won't come off her hand and that glows at random intervals. There's a big hole in the ground."

Jack let out a laugh that had no humor in it. "Ohh, it's _much_ more than that, friend. That pit... it's as deadly as they come. And that symbol you saw was the symbol... of the Structure Block." He shook his head a bit. "Legend says it was a mighty tool that could grow civilizations like seeds, create cities in the blink of an eye."

Petra was staring at Jack with literally glowing (and now _sparkling_ ) eyes. She stopped grinning as widely when Jesse and Cassie both gave her a look. (Although it was a bit hard to tell if it was an amused look or a 'now is not really the time' look. Honestly, Jesse herself didn't really know.)

"You need one of _those_ to close your pit."

Jesse stepped forward a bit, tilting her head slightly. "So... where can I get one of these 'Structure Blocks'? Petra thought maybe an Ocean Monument." She waved the gauntlet on her arm around. "'Cause of the Prismarine?"

Jack nodded affirmatively to that, although he didn't seem very pleased right now. Not in the slightest. "Oh, it's an Ocean Monument alright. The Villagers of Mushroom Archipelago call it... 'The Sea Temple'."

There was the sudden questioning sound of a villager, and everyone's heads immediately turned to Jesse's right to see a villager wearing white robes with gold cuffs and belt, and a green hat with a feather stuck in it. Jesse could definitely tell he was a cartographer villager... but she'd _never_ seen a villager wearing a green hat before.

Immediately, Jack's shoulders relaxed. "No, no. No problem." He turned back to the rest, his face relaxing into a smile. You could tell that he was pretty close friends with this villager. "Guys, this is Nurm- my other half. He's the genius behind all of our fine maps."

Nurm puffed himself up a bit, looking very pleased at the compliment.

"Nurm, this is Jesse, Petra, Jace, Cassie, and Reuben," Jack introduced them to him. Jesse spent a minute wondering how he knew their names when she realized that of _course_ he knew their names. After all, Jesse pretty much ran the city. And the Hybrid Order was pretty much famous all over the world(s).

The cartographer villager made a pleased sort of humming sound. Jesse lifted her non-gauntlet-clad upper arm in a cheerful wave. "Hi!" she said, cheerfully.

"Oh hi!" and Petra grinned too.

Jace's tail began to wag more vigorously, ears flicking up. "Hello," he said cheerily. Cassie nodded a bit, smiling pleasantly, and Reuben lifted one arm and flailed it at the villager in a sort of wave.

"I was just about to tell these two-"

 _g7 **l!itch4r**_ **e3** c0o _0d3 er3e3al7_!ityc _ **0ompo0s5** i!t3e_ _g7 **l!itch4**_ _g7 **l!itch4r**_ **e3** c0o _0d3 er3e3al7_!ityc _ **0ompo0s5** i!t3e_ _ **r**_ **e3** c0o _0d3 er3e3al7_!i _g7 **l!itch4r**_ **e3** c0o _0d3 er3e3al7_!ityc _ **0ompo0s5** i!t3e_tyc _ **0omp**_ _g7 **l!itch4r**_ **e3** c0o _0d3 er3e3al7_!ityc _ **0ompo0s5** i!t3e_ _ **o0s5** i!t3e_

Jack blinked suddenly, confusion flickering over his features. For a brief moment. "Uh, sorry, I meant to say _five_ there. Don't know why _two_ came out." He cleared his throat. "I was about to tell these five that I can't help them."

Jesse's confusion from the weird... _whatever_ had just happened switched to confusion about Jack's blatant refusal to help. "What?" she asked, softly.

"Listen, I _love_ your early work." Jack walked towards them. "Witherstorm? Sky City? White Pumpkin Mansion?"

Cassie's eye twitched a bit at that.

"Crown Mesa? Old Builders?" the older man finished rattling off, "Awesome. But as a purveyor of fine maps and adventures... your death would be _terrible_ for business."

"But-" Cassie began, frowning.

"Sorry," Jack cut the redhead off, a distant sort of look entering his eyes. An almost _haunted_ look. "I just can't."

"Jack, I'm sorry if I'm dragging up bad memories, because I'm _really_ getting that impression from you right now," Jesse said, softly, "but we _have_ to close that pit up. It's practically right under Beacontown- the whole _town_ could be in danger if we don't fix it. Besides," and she managed a slight, rather dry smile. "I've been tortured, abused, experimented on, nearly eaten by a world-devouring monster, thrown off a city, nearly murdered, nearly died via a giant computer, and played in some death games. Of those, three happened when I was a small child and the rest happened all while I was seventeen." She paused to let that sink in, before the smile perked up the _tiniest_ bit. "I'm, uh, I'm not dead _yet_. We can definitely handle ourselves... and if you're still worried, you could- I don't know- protect us. Be our guide or something?"

There was a long pause as Jack considered that, before the man let out a long, rather gusty sigh. "Vowed I'd never go back there again." He let out another sigh, this time a bit shakier, and began to walk towards a rather large map on the wall. "Let me show you something."

Nurm watched as he walked over to it, eyes narrowing slightly.

"It's like I said before... the world's a lot bigger than you think it is, Jesse." He glanced back at the petite girl, before turning back around and, using one arm, bringing the lever down sharply. Immediately, the sound of stone grating on stone rumbled to life, and the stone wall surrounding the map slid back into the wall, as _more_ extensions of the map shoved their way into place.

Petra's mouth hung wide open, Cassie's eyes were almost sparkling with interest, Jace's eyes were wide, and Jesse and Reuben were just staring at the now-gigantic map on the wall with wide eyes and slightly open mouths.

Behind them, Nurm nodded slightly.

The final extension of the floor-to-ceiling map slid into place, one block of the map remaining plain stone as it came to a thudding stop, the sounds of the pistons working dying away as dust drifted to a stop. Jesse glanced at Jack, using the arm with the gauntlet on it to flail at the bare stone in the middle of the map. "Um, let me guess, the empty square is where we need to go."

"Yep." Jack turned around from the map, a slightly embarrassed look coming over his face.

"And it's missing... because...?" Petra coaxed slightly, glancing from the map to Jack with a slightly confused expression.

Jack looked at the floor. "I, uh... kinda... burned it." There was a short pause, before he threw his arms into the air. "I threw it into a volcano, okay?"

Cassie's head snapped to him, eyes widening in surprise. "Wha-?! Why?!"

"You don't need that kind of danger anyway, alright?!" Jack snapped right back at the group, eyes hardening into a glare, "I swore I wouldn't take _anyone_ else to that temple _ever again_." He turned around, shoulders starting to tremble. "I refuse to let it take any more lives."

Nurm made a sort of 'oh really' humming sound.

"Shut up, Nurm..."

"Jack- you don't understand," Jace said, frowning at the man, "we _need_ that map."

Jack shook his head a bit. "And I hear you, I _really_ do, but I _swear_ to you... it's not worth it." He paused for a moment, before continuing, almost _forcing_ the words out. It was as if he'd been keeping this one secret back for years- possibly even _decades_ \- and now he just had to get it off his chest. "I found a gauntlet just like that once. Teamed up with my friends Vos and Sammy-" His voice cracked a bit. "To follow it's trail..." He reached up shakily, covering his face. "Neither of them-" His voice cracked again. "Neither of them... made it out alive..."

Jesse put one hand to her mouth, eyes widening a little bit as sorrow and, really, _sympathy_ came into her eyes. Cassie was looking at him in a much more sympathetic light, while Jace was whimpering slightly, tail tucked between his legs. Petra's eyes had dimmed noticeably, and Reuben had buried his head back into Jesse's back.

There was a few seconds pause before Jack mumbled, "Hence, uh, you know, 'lava', 'map', 'volcano', you remember what I was- saying. Anyway. But... burning the map couldn't erase the..." His fists tightened. "Horrible memories. And thanks to the curse of my perfect sense of direction... I couldn't forget the location of that temple if I tried."

Jesse's eyes widened a bit as she realized what that meant. "So, if you're the _only_ one who knows where it is..."

"Oh," Reuben said softly, eyes widening. "Oh."

Jack turned around, letting out a long sigh. "Yep. Without me... you're never getting to that Sea Temple. That knowledge is..." That haunted look entered his eyes again. It was a look that Jesse _never_ wanted _anyone_ to have, _ever_. "... my curse."

* * *

 **A/N: ... so we ended on a kind of dark note.**

 **Fun fact: Axel sometimes eats spicy food before they go out on a quest for treasure or whatnot, mainly because it increases his explosiveness. (Also, it tastes good xD)**

 **OMG... almost 2500 views already?! How did that happen?!**

 **Responses to reviewers!**

 **LunarTheMooncake: (thumbs up) / (laughs) I didn't even know 'fingerling' was a word.**

 **CamronXTheXGamer: Well, that too, I guess. I think she mostly did it for Winslow though, since Lukas eventually moved out, so he wasn't around to smell it that much.**

 **AquaK13: Smol pig hybrid child is very tired. No, he's not pretending- he's legitimately exhausted. Fighting like that is very impressive, especially for a child his age, but when you're a child, your stamina isn't very high, so he gets tired out pretty quickly. / (laughs) Not on PURPOSE she doesn't do cute. / Oooh, yes, but maybe later. He's trying to be polite for now. / Hehehehe xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: I love it when you do the 'play it cool' path OMG it's hilarious xD / Well, I mean. 5-7 years IS a pretty long time to stay exactly the same. / Ahahaha you're right! Never noticed that xD / Lololol xD / (laughs again)**

 **Emily The Avenger: He does indeed xD**

 **Toni42: Actually, he was only about three. For some reason when he respawned, the respawn took the DNA of the human child into account more and made him three years old. Yes, he had Reuben's personality and maybe some physical traits, but overall the human DNA won out more. So that puts him at 10 years old now, and he's still very smol for a 10-year-old. xD / RIGHT?**

 **Rabbits rule: (laughs)**

 **RapidSammi: I would, you'll see why later xD / hahahaha xD / I'm glad that you're excited, Sammi-kun!**

 **That's all for this chappie! See ya later, sayonara, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	12. Armor

"Jack..." Jesse hesitated, biting her bottom lip anxiously, before her shoulders relaxed a bit. "Believe me, if I could, I _wouldn't_ ask. I don't want to drag up bad memories, but... this _isn't_ something that we can just let go. I'm not going to leave this town- _my_ town- in danger. If we can, I want to fix this. I want to keep everyone safe. And the best way we can do that right now, is if we all tackle that temple together."

Reuben tugged the back of her shirt. Jesse rolled her eyes, knowing what he wanted to ask without him even asking. "Yes, including you, Reuben."

Jace, Cassie, and Petra couldn't help fighting back grins at that.

Jack frowned at them, eyes narrowing. He turned around, back facing them with his hands on his hips, staring at the floor as he pondered this idea. Nurm carefully approached and made a soft sound in Villagerese. (Jesse had never been fluent at that. One time she'd tried trading a few emeralds for an enchanted weapon and ended up with a book called 'The Petals of a Bloody Rose' instead. At least it was a good book.)

Jack looked up at Nurm, who had a worried expression on his face. They couldn't see Jack's, but Nurm's hardened a bit as he nodded.

Finally, Jack nodded a bit and turned back to them, a determined look on his face. "You know what? You've inspired me. I mean, am I the Velvet Tornado or aren't I?"

Jesse grinned, perking up as her shoulders relaxed in relief. "Then yeah! That's the spirit!" she cheered gently.

"Yes." His grin widened a little bit as Nurm grinned behind them. Petra drew even, a huge grin on her own face, while Cassie looked relieved, Reuben was beaming (although that might've been from Jesse allowing him to come along more than anything else), and Jace was just grinning slightly.

Jesse tilted her head, a slightly confused look coming over her face. "Uh, you... are, right?"

Jack simply glanced over at the cartographer villager, a grin coming over his face. "Nurm? Time to get our adventuring things," and he spun on his heel and walked deeper into the shop, Nurm following not too far behind them.

"Guys- it's _perfect_. 'Structure Block'?" Petra whispered in a low whisper, her grin growing to almost maniacal proportions. "'Sea Temple'?"

"I know. It's amazing," Cassie whispered back, hopping a bit in her own excitement.

"Almost... too good to be true!" Jace whispered, but he was also grinning, and his tail was moving pretty fast.

Jesse managed her own weak smile, but truth be told... she was feeling quite bad about dragging up so many bad memories about the 'Sea Temple' for Jack. This trip _to_ the Sea Temple... well, if just _talking_ about it dragged up bad memories, actually GOING to the temple... it probably was going to be pretty upsetting for him, as well.

"Auugh, YES!" Petra exclaimed in a loud whisper, pumping her fist into the air and exchanging a big grin with the whole group.

"And _Jack_. _Man_. He is _AWESOME_ , right?" Petra asked, grabbing Jace (nearest person to her) and giving his shoulder a little shake, her grin growing _even bigger._ If she kept stretching that smile she was going to end up cracking her face right in half.

Jace's smile, on the other hand, fell a little bit.

"I can't believe it- I'm going on an adventure with _Jack._ EEEE!" And she pumped her fist into the air again with the squeal.

Jesse gave a nonchalant shrug, gesturing with her big clunky glove. "I like him! Can't wait to see him in action out there."

"Yeah, I wanna see why Petra's fangirling," Reuben said, from where he was still perched on Jesse's back.

Cassie proceeded to laugh, snort, and press it back at the same time, making a _very_ interesting sound. In the end she nearly choked. (Jesse patted her on the back with one of the arms NOT wearing a clunky gauntlet.)

"I was _just thinking the same thing_ ," Petra said, hopping up and down a bit in excitement.

Jace just gave a light shrug. "He seems pretty cool," he said lightly, and that was that in terms of what he had to say about the guy.

"Nurm, I _told_ you-"

Jesse glanced over at Jack's voice, which had risen loud enough for them to hear. The man now had a diamond sword strapped to his back, and he and the villager were turned away and talking quietly. She approached, the voice getting louder as she got closer. "It's not the Admin's-"

Nurm made an angry sound. Jack started slightly, before letting out a loud groan. "UGH... fine."

"What'd he say?" Jesse asked, curiously, making Jack start around slightly.

"Nothin'. Villager stuff. Nurm here... wants to make a new map of this place what with the, uh, whole lava... volcano... incident," he said, managing to catch himself as he turned around. Nurm nodded slightly as everyone came up to the group. He began to talk rapid-fire in Villagerese, until Jack shook his head a bit, a tiny smile twitching over his face. "Easy, Nurmie. Don't blow a gasket."

The spider hybrid smiled, folding her arms behind her back. "Well, that's awesome, Nurm. Welcome aboard!"

Nurm made a sound that sounded suspiciously like "woohoo!" and grinned at them.

Jack shrugged a second later. "He says 'woo hoo.'"

Reuben and Cassie both started giggling, the pig hybrid having to bury his face in Jesse's shoulder to muffle it, while Cassie pulled Winslow off her shoulder and buried her face into him. It apparently pleased Winslow, because he just purred a bit.

"Yeah, I figured that out," Jace responded flatly.

"So, uhh..." Jesse spoke over the giggling Reuben and Cassie, "that mean we're off to the Sea Temple?"

Jack scratched his head, an awkward look coming over his face. "Don't you think some of you are looking a little..." he paused for a moment. "... squishy for that?"

"Seriously?" Jace exclaimed, frowning at the other man, " _you're_ wearing a _vest_."

Jack shrugged at that, beginning to take on a slightly announcer-like tone. "The Vest of Five Fists. Gifted to me by the Singing Clerics of Port-"

"Okay, yes, Jack, we get it, it's a cool vest," Cassie interrupted before he could get a little too interested in his spiel (although it _did_ sound interesting. Maybe after this whole thing was over they could have a chat about it).

"C'mon," Jesse said lightly, gesturing with her gauntlet hand, "I just need to make a quick pit-stop, and I can show you all some _real_ armor."

* * *

The door to the Order Hall slid open, to show Radar furiously polishing the Redstone Heart with his sleeve. He spotted Jesse a moment later, Reuben _still_ perched on her back (Jesse still hadn't put him down and he still hadn't asked her to do so), and came skidding over to the shorter but older girl. "Ohhh Jesse I'm so glad you're here."

"Hey Radar-" Jesse began, and that was all she got out, because Radar pulled out a notebook and started flipping through it rapidly.

"There is a LOT going on." Radar started rattling off a huge list of things that needed to be done in such a fast voice that Jesse could barely keep up. Or get a word in edgewise. "Someone still needs to finalize the ideas for the Founding Day banners, the Cake-Baking Team can't agree on what color to make the front of their shop, the Wool-Maker's Guild isn't _super_ happy about their booth being next to the Firework Union- understandable- the delegate from Boom Town left word that she wanted to make a speech at the parade. Very odd? Blue hair? Smells like sulfur?"

"Radar," Jesse gently interjected, keenly aware of the pained look on Jack's face, the confused one on Nurm's, the way Petra was facepalming, Jace starting to rub his temples, and Cassie trying to keep Winslow from jumping on the poor kid.

"Speaking of which _you_ should probably work on your Founding Day keynote address. Oh, and _rehearse_ it!" Radar kept plowing on, unaware of Jesse's interjection. "Why didn't I factor in rehearsal time? Stupid STUPID."

"Radar?" Jesse said, a little more insistently.

Radar continued rattling things off, eyes fixed on the notebook now and reading so fast that Jesse couldn't _sworn_ his eyes were blurring. "I'm sure I can shift a few things around, maybe push back your lunch with the Followers of Soren again... they're very strange anyway. They'll understand. Maybe. And did you know Lukas left another draft for you to look at? I said you'd try and give notes when possible but not to get his hopes up. Annnnd then I left a general-"

" _RADAR!_ " Jesse threw her arms into the air, having to _shout_ at the poor boy to get his attention.

The young man recoiled a bit, hastily flipping the book shut. "Ahhh! Sorry. Got in the zone there. What's up, boss?"

Jesse decided not to correct him on him calling her 'boss', walking a little further into the room. Radar looked around at Jack and Nurm. "I see you brought friends...? And a new accessory?" And he tilted his head to look at the gauntlet on her arm.

"Short version?" Jesse asked, frowning. "The town's in danger. I stopped it for now, but I think this-" She held up her gauntlet-clad arm as demonstratoin. "Can help me fix it permanently. I'll be gone for a little bit."

Radar immediately looked anxious. "G-gone, but- Jesse- what about Beacontown? Founding Day is right around the corner and and if it's really, in-in-in _danger_ who will protect everyone? There's no _telling_ what could happen!" He squeaked tugging at his hair a little bit. "And I have so few details, I am _very_ nervous about this-"

Jesse set her hands on his shoulder, being careful not to press down too hard and jolting him out of his little nervous rant. "Why don't _you_ try leading them, pal?" she asked, softly.

"What?" Radar asked, an excited smile coming over his face. " _Me_?! That's- this is-!"

" _Try_ not to explode," Petra interjected quietly, but she was interrupted by an excited squeal as the young man threw his arms into the air, beaming.

Petra facepalmed again, while Jace gave a slow, playful roll of his eyes. Cassie just hid a small smile. She could see why Olivia found this guy so cute. (In a platonic sense, since Olivia was technically, like, 10 years older than he was.)

"Jesse." Radar adopted a more serious manner, giving his 'boss' an even look. "I won't let you down."

"I know you won't," Jesse said softly, giving him an encouraging smile.

Radar perked up, saluting to her with an excited grin. Behind him, Jack grinned a little bit. "Good luck, boss! Beacontown will be waiting for you when you get back." Radar turned to leave, but happened to move in the direction Jack was facing. The older man grinned and made a sort of intimidating stance, making the boy yelp and start back. "Gah!"

He recomposed himself. "Um. Goodbye." And he started walking out of the hall.

Jesse shot Jack a look, a smirk playing on her lips. "Was that really necessary, Jack?"

"Nah, but it was funny. You said it, though. Can't believe _that's_ your assistant."

"Intern," Jesse softly corrected.

"He's more wound up than a pack of parrots with a jukebox. Or a... creeper in a herd of cats. Or a... squid in a, I don't- a box or someth- I anyway, he's real nervous is what I'm saying," Jack said quickly, gesturing in Radar's direction.

Jesse gave a shrug, smiling after the young man who was her intern. "Eh, we were all kids once. He's a little nuts... but his heart's in the right place."

The door came to a grinding halt behind them as Jack glanced over his shoulder, Radar disappearing behind the massive door. "If you say so." And he gave her a grin to show he meant no harm. "So... where's this armor of yours?"

Jesse turned and started leading them down the carpet, Jack looking around at all the things on the wall and the stuff floating on the pedestals. "Oh wow. You've got some pretty cool stuff here. Stuff I've never-"

Petra grinned at the rest of the Order, all of them grinning back a bit as the redhead started doing a little dance as they walked along.

"- er... probably only seen, y'know, once or twice."

Nurm gave his friend a grin as well.

"Not as cool as MY stuff, obviously, but, you're well on your way," Jack continued, continuing to look around at all the treasures. "Definitely on your way to becoming a big hero like me. Not _as_ big of course, but, uh, y'know. A real- real great swing."

Jesse held up all of her hands except for one that was keeping Reuben from toppling straight off her back in the direction of her friends. "It's just like I always say: couldn't have done it without my friends."

Petra, Jace, Cassie, and Reuben all grinned (or beamed, in Reuben's case) at her and returned her high-five cheerfully as Jack gave a sort of wistful chuckle. "Yeah. Friends are the best. Love..." His voice faltered a bit. "Having friends..."

Now Jesse felt bad again.

They walked up the stairs, Petra looking around and quirking her brow a bit. "Hey, wait- is this not where you keep your armor anymore?" she asked, frowning a little bit.

Jack glanced around. "Yeah, I'm not _seeing_ any armor..."

"Oh, nah." Cassie grinned, exchanging an excited look with the others. "Olivia and I decided to install a little upgrade while she was in town. Jesse, would you like to do the honors?"

"Hmm, I've done it a few times during the test stage. I think I'll let Reuben have a go." Jesse reached behind her and lifted the pig hybrid over her head, holding him out so that he could reach the lever without having to jump up. "Ready, kiddo?"

Reuben beamed and reached up, grabbing ahold of the lever and slamming it down.

" _Initiating Armor-Up Sequence_ ," Olivia's voice intoned, and immediately a glass panel in the floor slid aside to allow one of the suits of armor to rise out of the floor. And then another. And slowly, the other armors began to rise up too, a loud mechanical grinding drowning out all sound for a bit.

"Pfft... yeah, I've got one of those too," Jack said, but he was obviously staring wide-eyed at the whole thing, a fascinated expression on his face. Petra's eyes were wide as she goggled at the whole thing as well, gold eyes glowing with admiration.

Jesse chuckled a bit, stepping over to the armor and glancing over at Jace and Cassie. "You guys should probably pick the normal ones. Reuben, none of these fit you, so you're going to have to just wear the armor you have on now."

"Okey!" the little pig hybrid beamed. I'm fairly certain he was just glad to come along.

Jesse smirked a bit, strolling over to behind the main display of armor and pulling out an older-looking set that looked a bit more battered and worn. With a quick dusting, she pulled it into the light.

And there it was. The old armor Ivor had designed specifically for her, looking just as it had the day she'd first seen it, albeit with a few more scratches and dents.

Jesse glanced back at Cassie and Jace, both of whom were standing in front of their own respective sets. Cassie was standing in front of the Adamantine Impervium armor. She grinned when she saw Jesse raising her eyebrow with a small grin at the red-haired girl. "Y'know, I always was pretty sure this was one of Ivor's favorite sets."

Jesse and Petra glanced at each other, an amused grin quirking over their faces. "Honestly," Petra began.

"I think Dad just liked the name," Jesse finished, the two of them high-fiving flawlessly without even looking at each other. At this point, they knew each other _that_ well. Just like how Jace and Jesse had their mental 'twin' thing going on, Jesse had an almost psychic connection with a ton of her oldest friends. It was almost funny.

Jace poked the Tim armor, giving Jesse a sheepish look when she smirked at him. "I mean, this is some really nice armor. Diamonds, gold... I don't really agree with Hadrian or Mevia much, but, seriously- they went all out on this armor."

"Yeah, a lot of hype for a guy who didn't even exist," Cassie mumbled, reaching over and gently tapping the armor. "I actually think this armor would suit you, Jace."

Jace grinned, tail starting to wag a bit. (Petra scowled a bit at that for some reason.) "Well, it's a loss for the nonexistent guy and a win for me."

The spider hybrid allowed a smirk to sneak over her face. "Well... let's get suited up, then," she said lightly, gently lifting Reuben down to the floor (to the pig hybrid's slight disappointment.)

She lifted the armor off the stand, quickly pulling it on in a single fluid motion. She tugged up all the gloves from the lowest set of arms up, giving them a good tug so they stuck to her arms. Hopping into the boots quickly, she gave them a quick shake as she flipped her hair out of the armor.

Glancing over at Jace, the boy was giving a slight grin to his sister as he tried to figure out how his tail would work out, but otherwise he looked _quite_ impressive. Cassie looked pretty good too, the red-haired girl's, uh, hair complementing the outfit she had on.

The former White Pumpkin was now adjusting her glasses as she set the cat on the ground, disentangling Winslow from her shoulders. "No, you can't come, kitty..."

The quiet rumbling of a piston alerted Jesse to _one_ last minor detail. Turning smoothly on the spot, she walked over to the enchanted diamond swords that were set in an interlocked state and slowly rotating in place on the last pedestal, which had just risen into place. In a fluid, effortless motion, Jesse flicked the two swords out of place and twirled them into place on her back, turning on her heel as she sheathed them neatly.

Even as she casually walked back over to her friends, she couldn't help the smirk growing on her lips.

It was good to be back.

* * *

 **A/N: Ahh, this was a fun chapter to write, but I don't think I did a good job at the end.**

 **AH WELL xD**

 **Fun fact: Jesse's personality is based a little off of the actual Jesse's and a little off of my own personality. I'm way too nice for my own good sometimes. xD**

 **ALSO EPISODE 2 IS GONNA BE OUT AUGUST 15!**

 **UM**

 **YAY!**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **NoItsBecky: No spoilers. :) / No spoilers, but I will say you missed one of the things in the code.**

 **Rabbits rule: ... I see.**

 **Boggie445: (laughs) That will be a very interesting moment, I agree.**

 **LunarTheMooncake: (chokes) (starts laughing) / I don't know, dude, I'm not your computer xD / No spoilers. x3 / Uh, yep. xD**

 **EmLee: Hehehe, indeed. And yeah, that was a fun moment to picture for me. I might try drawing it sometime. / (laughs) Yeahhh, it was not one of his better moments. / Aw, thank you! I'm glad you like it. I actually usually update really fast, but for some reason I got kinda out of it these past few weeks.**

 **TheAmberShadow: (shrugs) Cool. / (chuckles) / (laughs) Yes, little kids are indeed weird. And oh really, how old is he? / Who? (Dr. Trayaurus, not DanTDM lol xD) / No, it was not on the phone. / (grins)**

 **Toni42: Mmhm. / Yeahh, I felt really bad for him. At least he got Vos back :3 / Thanks, Toni-kun!**

 **Emily The Avenger: Nice! I don't think I even had to hint at it for you x3**

 **MooncakeT: Nope, nothing to do with Phantasmagoria whatsoever. Completely wrong universe.**

 **S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: He was just saying that to tell Jack "she is mine, go away." But I'm not gonna say if they're actually engaged or not.**

 **AquaK13: (laughs) / I'm not saying anything~ / It's worse than being a 'total ass', tbh. / Yep! / Yeah, spicy food is still pretty lit though. xD**

 **Infernius Flashfire: (laughs) / (LAUGHS)**

 **RandomFangirl: Yep! And I know it wasn't difficult, but you'd be surprised how few other people got it.**

 **Welp, that's all for this time, I think! See ya, sayonara, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	13. HEY THERE'S A GUARDIAN LOOK OUT

Reuben applauded at Jesse very, very rapidly, making her grin and stoop down to ruffle his red hair and making the pig hybrid squeal a little as he threw his arms around the young woman in a tight hug.

"Hey, _very_ nice." Petra grinned at Jesse, letting her hand thud onto the spider hybrid's shoulder gently. "Black and red are a _very_ good recipe for a dangerous look. I wouldn't mess with this black widow if I were you, Jack." Petra gave the former adventurer a glowing grin. (Literally, her eyes were glowing faintly but dangerously.) "Her bark just might be less dangerous than her bite."

Jack raised his eyebrow, and gave a slow nod as a slow smile crept over his face. "I think I can see that."

Petra's eyes suddenly slid over, and her grin redoubled as she strolled towards the wolf hybrid, whose armor was pretty much _sparkling_ in the light Petra's grin was giving off. "Oh, is _that_ who I think it is?"

"Yes it is!" Cassie chimed in, grinning from over where she was still working at the Adamantine Impervium (apparently it was also as _hard_ to put on as it was to pronounce), catching the gist of what Petra was getting at.

"Hey everybody!" Jesse called out into the empty treasure hall, grinning like a doof as her brother blushed, "Tim is here! Woooohoooooo!" And she hopped up and down a bit, pumping her fists, as his tail began to wag furiously in embarrassment.

Jack's smile changed to a confused look. "Excuse me... 'Tim'?" he questioned them

"Long story, tell you later," the four young adults chorused in perfect sync, before grinning at one another at their accidental synchronization.

Jack gave a tiny shrug, accepting the almost dismissive comment philosophically. "Fine," he said mildly.

Cassie turned on her heel, walking over to the group with a grin. She spread her hands a little, adjusting her glasses slightly. "Well? How do I look?" she asked, a bit nervously.

"Pretty darn fantastic, if I do say so myself," Jesse said, giving the girl a solid pat on the shoulders.

Petra grinned at the three other adults, who all turned to return the Blaze hybrid's beaming grin. "Now _that's_ more like it," she said, nodding decisively.

"Agreed," Jack said simply, but if they looked closely enough... they could _definitely_ see a small smile on the man's grizzled face.

After a moment, Petra cleared her throat slightly. "Hey, uh... can you guys just give me, Jesse and Jace a moment?" she asked, slightly sheepishly.

Jack blinked at the request, as did Cassie and Reuben. "Huh?" the older man asked.

Nurm made a soft sound, and Jack was quick to follow. Cassie sent them one last fleeting glance, before following the other two down the steps, and Reuben trotted after her obediently.

Petra waited until they were mostly out of earshot, and then began to speak quietly. "Listen, with the Heckmouth and everything... I feel like I didn't get to properly... apologize. For all the stuff with my sword... Champion City... making Jace keep it a secret... so..." the redhead took a deep breath, allowing some of the heat to get sucked out of the air. "I'm sorry."

Jace let a soft smile come over his face, before patting his girlfriend/fiancee/whatever she was on the back. "You, uh, probably won't hear that ever again, sis, so don't get used to it," he teased the other girl.

"Yeah." Petra was staring at her feet, as Jesse's gaze grew a little sadder herself. "I'll totally deny everything later," Petra finished in a soft mumble.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, too," Jesse said softly, looking up at Petra with her hands behind her back, "I _hate_ it when we fight."

"It's the _worst_." Petra paused, before asking, hesitantly, "You know I'd do _anything_ for you, and Jace, and Reuben, and- well, now even _Cassie_. Right?"

"It's the same with me," Jace added, giving his sister a searching look.

"Of course I know. I'd do anything for _you_ guys," Jesse replied instantly. It wasn't even a difficult choice for her to make.

There was a short pause.

"Okay. Now with that sappy stuff out of the way," Petra said, raising her voice to a much more audible volume and making Jesse and Jace grin, "let's go find us a Sea Temple."

Jesse let a smirk of a grin come over her face and smoothly rotated to glance in the other direction. "Jack? Nurm? Cassie? Reuben? You guys ready to go?" she asked, raising her own voice as well.

Jack nodded in return, smiling slightly. "Always," he replied calmly.

"So..." Jesse let her voice trail off a bit, before tilting her head to one side curiously. "Where are we going exactly?"

"It's time to chart a course..." Jack turned to the exit, pointing with a fair amount of dramatic flair, "for Doom Sea."

A short pause, where everyone had time to be duly impressed.

Nurm made a slightly derisive comment in Villagerese.

"Shut up, Nurm, it's an _awesome_ name."

* * *

After a few days of travelling with very little sleep (well, in regards to the adults. Reuben just dozed off whenever he liked, since he was a little kid.), and listening to several stories of Jack's previous adventures courtesy of Jack, the whole group managed to find some boats, and were now speeding towards a cluster of islands that seemed to be a bit in what one might call the middle of nowhere.

"So I _leapt_ off the cliff- mournful blade in hand," Jack continued this monologue as they all clambered out of the boats, "and drove it _straight_ into the head of the Ikthara Zombie." He made a... _very_ odd sound as he illustrated his point. "I slept on an _enormous_ pile of diamonds that night."

"Enormous?" Petra's eyes were wide. "Ohh, I can only _imagine!_ "

Jesse could hear this faint growling sound, and she had to look around for the source of it before she realized it was coming from Jace, whose eyes had turned a very muddy shade of brown, Reuben perched carefully on her back.

"Uhm, Jace," Cassie whispered to the wolf hybrid, narrowing her eyes at him a bit in concern, "are you okay?"

He didn't respond. He was too busy growling.

"Oh yeah. Pretty typical day for me. You'll see-" and Jack looked over his shoulder at Petra, smiling slightly. "After this, I'll take you to this _amazing_ Woodland Mansion I found."

"Yeah!" and Petra jogged up so that she was no longer walking besides the rest of the Order, but instead next to Jack. "Let's make that happen."

Jace's growling was _definitely_ audible now.

"It's _really_ far from here."

"I love it," Petra gushed immediately.

"It's almost CERTAIN death."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Jace suddenly let out this very loud, piercing _bark_ that made everyone jump a little and look at him. He was scowling now, eyes beginning to turn the color of dark terracotta. He, um, did _not_ look very happy.

Petra twisted around to look at Jace, a worried look coming over her face as she moved into some waist-deep water and steam started rising off of her. She then glanced at Jesse, but the spider hybrid was keeping her face impassive. Maybe this wasn't the most _reasonable_ way of putting it, but she was siding with her brother on this one.

"What? It sounds awesome..." Petra trailed off, before saying, in a more quiet way, "quit staring at me like that."

And she turned around and moved further into the water.

"Jace, you know Petra loves you and _only_ you, right?" Cassie whispered to Jace, frowning at him a little. "She wouldn't throw you away the minute she finds someone- I don't know, someone she idolizes more?"

"Of course I know that," Jace mumbled, grumpily.

That didn't stop his expression from remaining more sour than a lemon, or for that lingering iota of doubt dancing in his voice.

"Alright, before we go down there," Jack began, after crossing a small body of water under the light of the moon as rain drizzled down over them, making a halo appear around the moon, "I feel like I should give you one last warning. The 'rules' as you know them? How the world works?" he asked, turning to face the group, before his expression became a little more distant. "Those don't always _apply_ in this Temple."

Jesse, Petra, Jace, Cassie, and Reuben all exchanged looks. Jesse looked concerned, Reuben was biting his lip a little bit, Cassie was frowning a little, Petra looked serious, and Jace was just... blank. Completely unreadable.

"Hrm."

The entire group jumped aside with a yelp (and in Jesse's case a " _hey what_ "), twisting around to see Nurm standing behind them. This guy was _sneaky_. He was like a ninja. A cartographer ninja dressed very inconspicuously in white robes and a green hat with a white feather sticking out of it.

Jack let out a tired sigh at Nurm's comment, as the villager strolled over to his friend. " _Some_ people believe it's because this temple was made... by the Admin."

There was a very long, very poignant pause, before Jesse cleared her throat softly. "Uh... the what?"

Hey, it was a valid question. She'd never heard of this 'Admin' before. And trust me, in the past 8 years... Jesse'd heard of some pretty weird stuff.

Jack let out another sigh, thinking about it. "Supposedly he's some all-powerful ancient person... built the world, I dunno." He then turned his attention back to Nurm, narrowing his eyes at the villager. "But the legend of the Admin is _just that_ \- a _legend_. A story. Bunch of superstitious malarky, frankly."

Nurm just narrowed his eyes right back.

"I've been to the swamps of Foon-jar-" He made a sound that was remarkably like hawking spit on the last 'r'- "and back, and that's _still_ one of the more ridiculous things I've ever heard."

"Jack," Jesse said, in a soft, patient voice. (Actually, now that they thought about it, that was probably one of the reasons why she was so good with animals. And children.) "I admit, it sounds a little weird, and a little fantastical. I understand what you mean. But you can't deny that _someone_ built this temple. _Someone_ built a temple where the rules of the world don't _follow_ the rules. And I'm not saying I'm a fan of ghosts and demons or- I dunno, _Notch_ or any of that stuff. I think I speak for most of us-" she gestured at the rest of the Order a bit with her arms. "- when I say that we usually follow logic and scientific evidence for things like these. However," and she put a little emphasis on the 'however', "I am willing to keep an open mind when it comes to things that cannot be explained. I'm not saying you have to believe that the Admin existed, let alone built the temple... but I _am_ saying to keep that in mind as a possibility."

"True. Also... we've seen weirder things," Cassie said, putting her hands on her hips and tilting her head to one side thoughtfully.

"True," Petra said simply. "Old Builders, Witherstorms, 'computers'..."

It was hard to tell if Jack was addressing one or the other or both when he said, with a sigh, "Well, let's just agree to disagree. I'll give you one thing though, Admin or not... what you're gonna see in this Temple... it'll stay with you."

He paused, staring them all in the eyes, long enough for them to get his point, before turning around and starting to delicately step on the sand, frowning down at the ground. "We used this island as our staging area last time we were here..."

"How can you be so sure it's the same one?" Jace asked, almost accusingly.

"Uh... perfect internal compass." Jack's voice had suddenly become a lot less confident as he stooped down and started punching through the sand, avoiding their eyes. "The... the Sea Temple is directly below us. It's like I can feel it."

One very pertinent fact occurred to Jesse right about then. Actually, it was so obvious she was internally kicking herself for not noticing this sooner. "Hey, uhh, how exactly are we going to _breathe?_ " she asked, rubbing her head sheepishly before giving him a weak little smile.

Jack glanced over his shoulder at the group nonchalantly. "Knew a guy that taught me how to hold my breath for ten minutes."

"I mean, that's impressive and cool and all, but-" Cassie deteriorated into inaudible mumbles after that. Jesse had the uncomfortable sensation that the redhead was swearing up and down the island at this point.

Jace let out a low growl, eyes beginning to gleam dangerously again. Jack hastily finished digging into his hole and shifted open a chest that had been previously hidden by the sand, "Picked up these enchanted helmets from the Deep Dwellers of Hon'bar Crevasse."

Jesse was starting to suspect, that like her, he had an eidetic memory for all these weird names. Either that or he wrote them all down and memorized 'em when he had the time. Both were valid options.

(Yes, she had an eidetic memory. How else was she supposed to catalogue all of her friends' hugs?)

The helmet that Jack showed them glowed in an eerie fashion, the brown leather covering of the outside punctuated by three holes. One was rimmed with gold and had a glass covering, while the other two were on the sides of the glass-covered hole and covered by a strange grid. Presumably to hear, since I imagine you can't hear much with what's essentially a leather-covered fishbowl on your head.

"Time to suit up and roll out," Jack said, narrowing his intense dark eye, and the paler 'dead' one.

* * *

The deepest Jesse had ever gone into water was still quite close to the shore. Out here in the middle of nowhere, she watched as the moonlight from the surface grew more and more eerily faint, fish swimming around in huge schools and brushing past Jesse. On a nice summer night like this one, the water was pleasantly cool, and Jesse would honestly have not minded if this place wasn't so _dim_. Seriously. It was more than a little creepy.

Reuben was looking around them in fascination at the deep-sea structures that were sprouting up around them, his own helmet firmly on his head as Jesse carefully landed, her feet making dull thuds resonate throughout the water as she touched down onto some dark sand. As everyone touched down carefully, the spider hybrid checked to make sure everyone was still there.

Cassie's glasses were still on her face, and Jace's tail was wagging. Slowly, because of the water resistance, but it was wagging. He was probably finding this whole thing pretty cool himself.

"Temple's... that way," Jack said, pointing with his right arm to his, well, right. His voice sounded a bit like he was talking over an old phone, almost echoing oddly, before he started walking along.

"How-?" Petra began, questioningly, as bubbles rose into the air (or, well, water) and went for the surface. (Reuben tried to pop a few.)

Jack gave the Blaze hybrid a grin, before tapping the side of the helmet slightly. "Compass." And with that, he launched himself into the water, making a soft bubbling sound as he launched off.

"Right! Oh, that's _so_ cool!" And Petra grinned at the others, which was visible even with this giant leather fishbowl on their heads.

Jace just blinked at his fiancee a bit, keeping any irritated expression off of his face. (Which was quite difficult.) Jesse and Cassie exchanged looks, before the two of them shook their heads with an amused grin, and they swam off, coming to a stop on a ledge that opened up into a deeper, underwater abyss.

Jesse glanced back at the others, before carefully stepping off of the edge and marvelling at the way she merely started sinking deeper a bit, before her upper four arms and her back legs began to engage in a sort of breaststroke, propelling her through the water neatly as schools of fish swam past Jesse, making the young woman have to duck down to avoid hitting them with her face. She paused for a moment, scanning around, before glancing up and starting to propel herself upwards at an angle out of the abyss... and then her eyes widened.

" _Whoa_ ," she whispered in awe, the others thudding to a stop behind her, as she slowly walked towards the temple. Sea Lanterns strategically dotted the areas around them, lighting up the bits of the temple that the light from above didn't reach. It was a sprawling temple, fishes swimming around it neatly, with a few blocks that hadn't been placed down properly floating around here or there, two pillars marking a sort of gateway to the front of the temple, and a sort of... giant... face making up the front entrance to the greenish-blue-and gray-stone temple.

Huh.

"There she is," Jack said, almost shakily, but when Jesse glanced back his expression was grim as he swam forward.

Petra put her hands into the air... or, well, water. " _Incredible_ ," she whispered in awe. Cassie nodded, green eyes gleaming in the pale glow of the Sea Lantern, a small smile decorating her face as she stared at the temple. She didn't actually say anything, having been rendered utterly speechless.

Jace let out a low whistle, swimming after his girlfriend/fiancee/you get my point to catch up with her. Cassie did the same, while Nurm also followed. Jesse stepped over the threshold- and that's when a flicker of movement caught the corner of her eye, the spider hybrid feeling a chill run up her spine.

The sort of chill she got when she got the feeling that someone was targeting her.

Immediately, her head shifted so that she was staring off to the left, that flicker of movement continuing. Bulbous head, thin tail...

Jesse's eyes narrowed, trying to get a better look at it, the red eye starting to glow dangerously. Her heart had just kicked into overtime, and she could hear Reuben's breathing through the helmet quicken. If that was what they thought it was...

It rounded and turned to face her, revealing a single eye in its head, unique fins flaring out next to it...

Before suddenly swimming right at her and Reuben, the eye beginning to glow dangerously.

Reuben gasped.

Jesse's eyes widened as the glowing eye of the Guardian shot a multicolored laser right at the two hybrids.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, as of today, I'll be kicking into update overtime to try to finish up Episode 1 before Episode 2 comes out. (Of MCSM, obviously.)**

 **...**

 **haha no way I'll be able to finish since I'm also getting into Phantasmagoria again soon but whatever no one cares**

 **Fun fact: Reuben was one of the few characters who actually had a plan throughout the entirety of Hybrid. Everyone else (minus the five main hybrids) was mostly made up on the spot during writing a chapter.**

 **Responses to reviewers!**

 **LunarTheMooncake: (smiles slightly) (moves on)**

 **NoItsBecky: (laughs) I just needed a quick and dirty code since I was writing the chapter at such a late time. / (laughs) Welp, that's the release date. / Let 'em hate. Telltale isn't changing their plans for them, and we don't have to pay them any attention.**

 **Emily The Avenger: (laughs)**

 **TheAmberShadow: D'awwww x3 / Ah, I see. / (laughs) She does. I'm pretty sure she does, anyway. / (laughs) / Aw, yeah, they are. Why is that, do you think...**

 **CamronXTheXGamer: Thank you!**

 **EmLee: True.**

 **InsaneAcrobat: Ahahaha, it's fine! / (laughs) True. It will get crazy. / I'm not going to alter the Structure Block because I've never actually used one in Minecraft or seen one and didn't know it actually existed in Minecraft until I went onto the wiki a week ago, so yeah. / Well, imagine if they'd actually USED the Command Block like a Command Block was supposed to be used. Complete chaos.**

 **Boggie445: Yep. :3**

 **Rabbits rule: (laughs)**

 **Toni42: WOOHOO! And yeah, they're kinda gonna need it. / Yeah, I got that. I'm glad she likes it, though! / Thanks!**

 **giriri: Jesse doesn't get that emotional, unfortunately. Also, I probably would've just taken a deep breath and then said, "If you ever talk about Reuben like that again, I am going to break something. And if that something happens to be one of your limbs, then you had that coming to you." And then smile sweetly as she absorbs that.**

 **Jonathan: ... okay.**

 **That's all for now! See ya, sayonara, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	14. We'll Be Okay (Maybe)

The spider hybrid reacted, and she reacted _fast_ \- Jesse immediately propelled herself forward furiously, the Guardian _narrowly_ missing her as it pelted past her like some sort of gigantic fish bullet. As it slowly began to turn around, Jesse whirled around, Reuben clinging on for dear life, and launched herself at the steps, landing on the bottom most step and nearly knocking into Cassie. The redhead, who'd started turning around to jokingly scold Jesse, abruptly gasped. "Jesse! Behind you!"

Jesse turned to the left awkwardly- which ended up saving her life, because the turn shifted the spider hybrid over enough that the laser that had been on a dead-on course for the short girl barely missed her, the Guardian from earlier swimming at them.

Without any hesitation, Jesse hastily drew her sword, which cast an eerie glow in the water, and shoved off hard with her legs. Feeling as if she were in space, Jesse soared through the air, before roughly slicing downwards with the sword, the enchanted blade cutting right through the Guardian with no trouble and making it puff into smoke moments after the blade pierced its body.

Stumbling to a stop on the ground again, Jesse caught her balance in the water and looked up, eyes widening in shock. Hastily, she turned back around, leaping for the stairs again. " _We gotta move!_ " she shouted, determinedly keeping her eyes off of the Guardians swimming towards the Temple now.

In a few, swift strokes, Jack, Nurm, Petra, Jace, Cassie, and Jesse (with Reuben clinging on for dear life of course) came to a thudding stop at the entrance level of the temple, Jace's tail beginning to swish through the water more furiously as the Guardians swam ever-closer. Whether or not it was that they were protecting the temple, or something else, it didn't really matter- right now, if they didn't get inside, they were all going to die via Guardian.

"There!" Jack shouted, his voice sounding tinny through the helmet, "that's where the Gauntlet goes!" And he pointed at a hole built into a wall, deep enough that Jesse could plunge her arm in.

Jesse tensed her knees and swam for it, the others (except for Nurm, who wasn't armed, and Reuben, who was still hanging on desperately) drawing their weapons and preparing to deal with the Guardians.

Quite fortunately, Jesse managed to land right in front of the hole, and before she could even fully catch her balance, the young woman punched her arm in as deep as it would go, which was about up to her elbow, the entire gauntlet entering the whole and making the lines around it begin glowing a mystical (and slightly minty) green-blue color.

The entire wall, which was constructed out of Prismarine, glowed momentarily... before sending out a pulsing shockwave through the water, nearly bowling Jace back into the water and making Cassie dig her heels in to avoid getting knocked away. The Guardians didn't fare so well, getting hit directly with the shockwave and flashing red before dying on the spot.

There was a good, three second pause.

The entrance to the temple slid open, stone grinding against stone and making a noise that was causing Jace's teeth to grit and his hair to stand on end. (If only they weren't in the water.)

"Awesome!" Reuben cheered, making Jesse grin over her shoulder at him.

"That's amazin-"

The same chill from earlier shot up Jesse's spine, and the spider hybrid abruptly flung herself onto all eights, Reuben trailing after her, as a laser that had been aimed at _her_ directly shot over her head, barely missing her and the others.

"AGH!"

Lasers were beginning to fire at them, willy-nilly, as the whole group whirled around to see another horde of Guardians swimming right at them.

"Quick, get inside!" Jesse shouted, waiting until the others had furiously paddled their way in before springing into the water and, with a few, swift strokes, propelling herself through the shutting door, creating a wall between them and the Guardians- although Jesse _barely_ made it in the nick of time, her heel almost getting clipped by the shutting door.

After the imminent danger had faded, the whole group gasping for breath inside their helmets, Jesse tentatively began to lead the way deeper into the temple, everything looking ghostly and blue due to the water flooding the room. As they passed from the narrow entry hallway into a more expansive one, mechanical thuds sounded, sponges suddenly shot out of the ground, and with a rumbling sound the sponges sucked up the water, the whole group finding themselves on solid ground, dripping copious amounts of water.

They all yanked off the helmets, gasping for breath. Honestly, the air in the temple seemed a bit wet and humid, but hey, Jesse was NOT one to complain.

Quickly, they all stowed the helmets away again, Jace getting onto all fours and furiously shaking off as much of the water as he could. Petra was heating up, steam rising in tiny swirls off of her, clothes drying quite quickly. Cassie wrung out a large section of her hair, and Reuben just blinked, water dripping from his red hair and making him wetter than he'd already been.

Jesse waited until Nurm had managed to clamber back to his feet and yank off his helmet before beginning, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice, "Now, if we're sure that we all have our limbs... how 'bout we find that Structure Block?" With that, they marched into the next room, which opened into a MUCH bigger space than before, lined with gigantic statues-

Stone suddenly started grating against stone, and Jesse came to a screeching halt as the statues' dull sockets of eyes started glowing an eerie green-blue, and they, in creepy sequence, turned to stare...

Right at Jesse.

Reuben let out a little whine, and the spider hybrid reached up and back, pressing her hand to Reuben protectively.

She wasn't going to let him die again.

No way in hell was she going to let that happen.

Nurm made an uncomfortable sound, Jace whimpering and moving to hide behind Petra a bit. Cassie bit her lip and stepped back a bit as well, as Jack began, rather shakily, "Nngh... I forgot they did that."

Petra breathed in shakily, reaching back and interlocking her fingers with Jace's. (He quickly reciprocated the move, trembling like a leaf.) "Okay, that's... not normal."

"No, you think?" Cassie muttered under her breath, but her eyes were wide, and her fingers twitched as if she wanted to polish her glasses furiously.

Slowly, the others began to move forward, looking around the room carefully. Jesse stayed perfectly still for a moment, regarding the statues, hand still pressed protectively to the little pig hybrid on her back. "Oh, man," she muttered, softly, as she began to walk after the others, "those things are _creep_ y."

"Pretty impressive, right, Petra?" Jack began, voice trembling a bit.

Even from back here, Jesse could hear Jace start growling softly again.

"If you look closely, the carvings on this prismarine aren't like anywhere else in the world."

"Really?" Petra sounded utterly _fascinated_ , gazing around the floor at her feet as if she'd never seen prismarine before. (Well, it was true that they did RARELY see prismarine in Beacontown, with the exception of the Sea Lanterns everywhere.) And it was true, Jesse had never seen carvings like this on prismarine before.

"Yup. Completely unique. No one's quite sure _why_... but you'll never have an experience like this ever again."

Nurm made a questioning sound.

"What'd he say?" That was Cassie, and Jesse knew that while the redhead was probably trying to examine everything in as close detail as possible, she was also paying close attention to the conversation the others were having.

"He said, uh, he agrees. And that you're super lucky to be here with me," Jack said, voice trembling slightly. Jesse wouldn't have been able to tell if she hadn't been paying attention to the conversation herself, and it was VERY subtle, but it was there.

Jace let out a sharp, irritated, and rather sudden bark, making Jesse jump a bit. On her back, Reuben made a little snorting sound. Shifting him around so that she was holding him in a tight hug rather than in a piggyback ride, she continued moving towards the rest of the group, steadily. In this giant room, the echo made it sound like several dogs were barking.

"Cut it out, Jace, that scared the crrrrrrrrrrrrrispy noodles out of me," Petra corrected, having remembered that there was a ten year old in the room.

Jace, upon being scolded, let his ears and tail droop, a soft whimper emitting from Jesse's brother.

Poor Jace.

"My brain can barely process these things as _statues_ , they're so big," Cassie murmured, sounding _fascinated_ but also incredibly creeped out as she surveyed the room.

"Right?" Jesse asked, hugging Reuben to her even more tightly, "and what's up with their faces? They don't even look-" She felt a shudder run down her spine. "They don't even look like _people_." It wasn't the _most_ eloquent way of putting it, but she didn't know how else to put it. With those two long... tusk-like things dangling from the bit where its eyes were, it looked as far removed from even _remotely_ human, like the villagers were, as they could possibly get.

"Yeah, they're..." Petra shuddered a bit. "Whoo boy, they're creepy."

"I know. I hate them." Jack's voice was so flat it could've been mistaken as a sheet of paper.

Nurm made an irritated sound, and Jack blinked at the irritated sound. "Uh, no, Nurm, there's nothing wrong with 'not people'. C'mon, geez."

Jesse watched the eyes of the giant statues following her as she walked, Reuben letting out a low, wordless whine and burying his face into her chest, before turning away and walking more briskly towards the rest of the group, moving ahead of them slowly and gingerly, because if any of Jesse's previous adventures had taught her anything, it was "Don't walk into creepy temples without expecting traps at some point."

Jack made a low gasping sound, and Cassie glanced back to see the man's eyes snapping to watch some of the statues staring at him, before to the other side to see another statue slowly turning to gaze at the group.

He made another gasp, coming to a stop and bracing his hands on his knees. He bent over as if he was out of breath, but Jace had caught the sheen of sweat that had suddenly appeared on his brow and could see the way he was trembling. "I... I'm gonna need a sec. Just to... check my enchantments." Jack's voice rose a little higher than normal. "Yeah. Gotta..." He swallowed nervously. "Gotta make sure they're all there."

Cassie, Jace, and Petra exchanged glances, Jace's a little more concerned than the other two girls'. He didn't really _like_ Jack that much, but... well, seeing someone in that bad shape just from walking through a room was more than a little disconcerting.

"O... kay." Petra continued onwards, Cassie and Jace hesitantly following after her. (Safety in numbers, after all.) "Well, I'm gonna scout ahead."

Jesse could hear how shallowly Jack was breathing, and felt a tiny twist of guilt form in the pit of her stomach. She'd known full well that two of his friends had died here, died in this _very_ temple.

And yet she'd brought him here anyway.

Jesse tried to shake the thought. No, it wasn't her fault in the least- they _had_ to get the Structure Block, in order to keep Beacontown safe. It wasn't an option to come here, and if Jack hadn't brought them here...

 _But you could've told him to stay behind_ , Jesse's brain told her. _You could've told him he didn't have to come._

Jesse decisively shook her head again, a frown creasing her brow. No. No, she couldn't have.

If Jack hadn't come, there was no way he was going to be able to get any closure on the place. And if he didn't get any closure... then this place would be haunting his nightmares for the rest of his life.

At least this way he could sleep a little better.

"Jack? Are you okay?" Jesse asked, softly, letting Reuben slide down from her chest. The pig hybrid made a sympathetic whining sound, going over and wrapping his arms around Jack's leg, which was about as high as the kid could reach. (Man, Jesse knew she was short, but this was slightly ridiculous.)

"Ah- uh, yeah, yeah," Jack's voice wavered worse than an opera's singer's vibrato, "Must've- hit a patch of soul sand or something." He wiped his brow, his back trembling from where he was bent over.

Reuben stared at the floor innocently, before looking up at Jack. He'd apparently not decided to point out that Jack was lying.

"Ooh, whoa, it's got me! Like... frozen in place." He grunted a bit, almost desperately. "I'll be alright!"

Jesse stepped forward, reaching out- pausing- and then _very gently_ letting her middle-right hand rest on his back, the trembling _definitely_ noticeable under her hand. "I know it's pretty intense in here, but... you don't have to be scared, Jack."

Jack straightened up, trembling, absentmindedly patting Reuben on the head. That seemed to calm him down a bit, at least. "But this is _way_ harder than I thought it would be... hoooo boy."

"You're going to be okay," Jesse told him softly, and she wasn't just talking about Jack's current issue with the place.

After a full moment of silence, Jack let out a long breath and straightened back up, smiling slightly. "You're right. Thanks, Jesse."

There was a pause, before Jack bit his lip and rubbed the back of his head. "So, uh... I wasn't going to say anything about it, but, um, I notice that your brother doesn't seem to like me that much?" he asked, slowly. "Which is fine, I mean, I just don't know why he's so irritated with me."

For once, _both_ of Jesse's brows went up.

And then she laughed, the sound echoing faintly throughout the room.

"Are you kidding? Of _course_ he doesn't like you. You've been talking to his fiancee... girlfriend... whichever it is, we're still not sure, and she's been paying attention to _everything_ you say. Jace and I..." Jesse immediately sobered up a bit at the thought. "... didn't grow up in the most _optimal_ of conditions, so he's afraid that Petra's going to leave him the minute she finds someone better, or more interesting, or someone she idolizes more."

Jack blinked in surprise. "Oh, I... see, but I don't see what that-" He blinked again, this time in realization, and his cheeks _may_ have turned slightly pink as he realized what Jesse was insinuating. "Oh. _Oh_. He doesn't..."

"He does," Jesse said simply.

Jack made a _very_ odd face. "Oh, _Notch_ , no! She's practically three times younger than me- I mean, _no!_ " he whispered, looking slightly disturbed at the idea, "besides, do you know how much she talks about him?"

Jesse blinked. "Does she?" If Petra had...

... ah, of course. Must've been the few times Jesse and Jace had managed to go to sleep.

"Oh, Notch, yes. Literally, when it's not about me and my adventures, it's all about the wolf hybrid." Jack rubbed his head, smiling wryly at Jesse. "You have _not_ seen her gush until she starts talking about him. Believe me, I don't think I can find anyone more in love with someone else if I tried." He paused, before looking more appraisingly at Jesse. "Well, I mean, unless I look at you and _your_ boyfriend-"

"Guys! Hey! We found something!" Petra called up to them, sparing Jesse from being mortally embarrassed in front of Jack and Reuben, thank goodness.

Jesse moved to go join Petra, but Jack seized her arm and dragged her back a step, a bit more roughly than he'd intended, so that she very nearly tripped over the little kid at her feet. "Uh, be right there!" Jack lowered his voice so that the others couldn't catch it. "Hey, let's, uh, let's just keep that... between you and me and the kid, huh amigo?"

Jesse blinked in surprise, before realizing he wasn't talking about the whole 'love interest' thing.

"She's a _fan_ , it's... nice. Look, you have _no_ idea how it feels, to have everyone around you think you're some... _has-been_. I... don't think Petra needs to hear about it. So, um..." Jack glanced from her to Reuben, dead eye staring right at them. "Just hush on it."

Reuben saluted, beaming up at the older man. "Yes sir!" he whispered, brown eyes crinkling up cheerfully.

"Aw, don't worry, Jack," Jesse whispered to the man, keeping her own voice low as she smiled slightly, "you've been through a lot. You have every right to get scared."

"Yeah... I... guess." Jack paused, his lips curving up in a tiny smile, "hey... thanks."

"We found the next door down there," Jace said, coming up the stairs with his arm securely around Petra as they came back up, Cassie coming along a little ways behind them, "but it needs that glove of yours."

"What's keeping you guys?" Cassie asked, mildly, although Petra's gold eyes narrowed slightly at them.

Jack paused, glancing at Jesse and Reuben, before Jesse picked up for them. "Reuben was getting a bit motion-sick from all that dodging and swimming around to avoid the Guardians, so we decided to take a quick break."

Reuben nodded, patting his stomach a little and picking up very quickly on what Jesse was going on. "I feel much better now, don't worry."

"Oh. Well, I'm glad to hear that, kiddo," Petra said, relaxing slightly and grinning down at the pig hybrid. "Ready to get going?"

"Yep!" Reuben said, cheerily.

Jack strolled forward, Nurm being quick to follow. "Well, then, let's check it out."

Jesse waited, allowing Reuben to climb onto her back, and in checking to make sure he was securely on her back, she didn't notice the grateful look Jack sent her way.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, Jetra is safe. xD**

 **Fun fact: Nell had a tiny crush on Jace at one point (it would've been parallel to the Episode 5 timeline when she had the crush).**

 **Responses to reviewers!**

 **Lunar: Awww. (pats) / (laughs) / Ah, yes, that's a nice part. xD**

 **Boggie445: Me neither**

 **CamronXTheXGamer: I don't think it'll ever come out on PS3, Eric Stirpe said there were currently no plans.**

 **giriri: I see.**

 **AquaK13: Ahaha, yep, I guess I did. xD / The trailer came out today, though, and it was AMAZING! / Ahaha, it wasn't even that- it was just a thought I had while playing Episode 8.**

 **LegoGirl794: Nope xD**

 **Jack: Ahaha, sorry xD / Nahh, I've done that before, you're fine. / (shrugs)**

 **Emily The Avenger: AHAHAHA yes that was fun xD / Yep xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: Funner is not a word. xD / Lololololol xD / He'll be fine x3**

 **InsaneAcrobat: PFFFFF xD / It's a real thing in Minecraft, I don't know what it actually does, though. / Mmm. / I'm glad you like the story! :3**

 **NoItsBecky: Mmhm :3 / Thank you! / Yes that was a real beaut**

 **Rabbits rule: They'll be fine, Aboun xD / Thank you!**

 **Toni42: Yep. I don't like the Guardians. xD / Yes, very much so. He has no reason to, but he does anyway.**

 **ShiningHopeBeast: No, eidetic memory is that you just remember everything. Photographic memory is different. / (laughs)**

 **Welp, that's all for this time! See ya, sayonara, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	15. Floating Water and Freezing Up

Jesse glanced up, having spotted a strange shape through a hole in the wall. The way it was glowing ethereally, though... _that_ was pretty impressive. Even if it _was_ just Sea Lanterns. "Okay, _that_ is cool," she said, putting one of her lower hands on her hips.

Jack paused, glancing back at Jesse with a singularly grim expression on his face. "Sure. Let's see how 'cool' you think it is when your life is on the line."

Jesse's eyebrow just went up slightly, Reuben blinking down at Jack. (He was on a higher step than Jack was, so this was the one time Reuben was ever going to be taller than anybody, at least until he started growing up again.) "Inches from the abyss," Jack continued.

The wolf hybrid next to him gave his eyes a roll, barely concealing the fact from both Jack and Petra. (Although Cassie certainly noticed, and she put a hand on her hip as she regarded him. He was _really_ jealous of Jack.)

Nurm made a comment in Villagerese. Jesse didn't understand it, but Jack certainly did, and he put his hands on his hips and glared at Nurm, although it wasn't really much of an 'angry' glare. "I know what I'm talking about, Nurm," he gritted out.

"Pretty, uh, pretty intense, though," Petra quietly contributed.

Deciding to gloss over this for now, Jesse simply walked down the steps towards the bottom, keeping one lower arm firmly around Reuben's shoulder- this way she could scoop him up and bolt out of there in a jiffy. Cassie quickly fell into step behind her friend, everyone watching before beginning to follow after Jesse themselves. "Can't tell if that's stoic silence or scared silence... but either works, I guess."

It wasn't a very long staircase, and Jesse soon arrived at the bottom. Without even pausing in her walk, she lifted the arm with the gauntlet on it, drew it back, and then slammed it into the slot in the wall, which lit up that same blue as earlier. The moment she heard the metallic _thud_ , she withdrew her arm and continued strolling in, even as the wall slid up to reveal the next chamber.

"Ooh, that was cool," Jace said, perking up and grinning at his sister a little bit as he sped up his walk to get a bit closer to her. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), this resulted in him gently pulling Petra away from Jack.

(Cassie couldn't help but shake her head at Jace with a smile at that.)

The moment Jack had stepped through, the door abruptly slammed back down behind them, making them all whirl around on the spot with a yelp, eyes searching to make sure everyone was there.

It didn't take long for Jesse to do a quick mental headcount and decide that yes, everyone was there and accounted for- and there _was_ a slot on this side of the wall, so if need be they could come back out this way- and to turn around, facing the next chamber and scanning it warily.

There were three things she noticed immediately right off the bat.

One, on the other end of the expansive chamber there was a strange, greenish-blue glow. They seemed to be coming from several Sea Lanterns embedded in the wall.

Two, there were two Guardians in the room. No, two _Elder_ Guardians, Jesse corrected herself. Normal Guardians didn't have those weird spiky gray things... nor did they look so sickly.

Three, one of the Guardians was turning to face her and the eye was starting to glow.

" _Move!_ " Jesse immediately shouted, and all of them dove to the right and dodged behind a nearby wall, a multicolored laser slicing through the air where Jesse had been standing only seconds previously.

"Whoa!" Jace gasped, arm tight around Petra, whose eyes were starting to glow in alarm. "That was _way_ too close."

Cassie was inspecting her hair- which, now that Jesse was getting a good look at it, seemed to have gotten about two inches of it seared off. "You're telling me," she muttered, brushing away the last few singed bits that were remaining, "I mean, I was _planning_ to get a haircut but not _this_ soon."

Jesse caught her breath, tightening her arms around Reuben, and looked over at the only person who'd been here before. "Do you remember any of this, Jack?" she asked, a bit shakily.

Everyone immediately turned to look at the older man, who was frowning as he put his hand to his forehead. "I... hn. It's all a blur..." He thought about it for a moment longer. "It's a test though. To see whether 'the adventurer is worthy of the Structure Block'... yeah."

The spider hybrid bit her lip thoughtfully, and she _very carefully_ leaned out from behind the wall, narrowing her eyes as she began to focus on the room's other contents, doing her best to keep an eye on the Elder Guardian and get a good look at everything else as well. Her eyes flickered to the ceiling, where there were some large... obsidian things, with glowing obsidian blocking off a bit of the bottom of it. "What are _those_ things for?" she muttered, almost to herself.

"I'm not sure..." Cassie's eyes narrowed from where _she_ was peeping at it. Jesse might've jumped a little bit if she hadn't felt Cassie's hand gently touch her shoulder a moment before, almost as a warning. "And it looks like it might be made of... glowing obsidian..."

"Oh, sponges, cool!" Reuben whispered, drawing Jesse's attention to a stack of said sponges near the Elder Guardian. "Like we saw back at the entrance."

"Hey, yeah," Jace added, one eye _barely_ peeping out from behind the wall. "Those are _really_ good at soaking up water."

"Hey, Jack?" Petra whispered over Jesse's shoulder, curiosity having gotten the best of her and the redhead now poking _her_ head around the corner as well. "Is that, uh... dark prismarine?"

Now that Jesse was looking where Petra seemed to be looking, the entire wall seemed to be made up of prismarine blocks... but, embedded in the wall were designs made up of dark prismarine and a few Sea Lanterns.

"Or something like it," Jack mumbled, from where he and Nurm were safely situated behind the wall.

Jesse's eyes travelled back to the Elder Guardian, brain already beginning to formulate a plan. "Alright, should be able to use the sponges to soak up the..." Her voice trailed off, having noticed something very pertinent. "... _floating water_ the Guardians are in." She turned back to her friends, eyes widening in surprise. "Water... floating in _mid-air_?! That should be _impossible!_ "

Nurm made another comment in Villagerese, looking pointedly at Jack.

"Well, if I know one thing," Jack said, glaring around at the others as if daring them to disagree with him (which no one was planning on), "It is definitely _NOT_ the Admin."

Nurm muttered something, again in Villagerese. Jesse was really going to have to learn that one of these days.

Jack groaned a bit, glaring at Nurm. "He won't _listen_ to me anymore...!" he groaned.

"Guys," Cassie said, pointedly.

Nurm glanced over at Jack, narrowing his eyes a bit and ignoring the comment from Cassie. "Hrm," he said. (Well, that _was_ accurate, that _was_ what he'd just said...)

"Jack, I know you're not the biggest fan of the Admin, but... why are you being so... fight-y, about this?" Jesse asked, quietly.

"Because I refuse to believe," Jack said, through gritted teeth, "that there's some all-powerful dude running around playing games with my life!"

The phone in Jesse's pocket, which she'd _completely_ forgotten about, buzzed a bit.

"Well, I don't know about an _Admin_ , but I really, _really_ don't like that floating water," Petra interrupted, glancing over at said floating water with a frown. She probably didn't like it for more than one reason that Jesse could think of, now that she thought about it.

"Alright, _enough_ with the Admin junk!" Jack snapped, leaping to his feet with quite a bit of energy as he turned to stare at Jesse, sharply, "you said you saw sponges to soak up that stupid floating water, right?"

Well, no, actually, that had been Reuben and Jace, but close enough, Jesse supposed.

Cassie glanced over, as if ensuring that the sponges were actually there. (They were, of course.) "Yeah."

"Okay, so we're going to use the sponges on the floating water, dry it up- and that should take out the Elder Guardians," Jesse said, decisively, leaning back against the wall and giving her friends a determined look.

"Dibs on that job," Jack said almost _instantly_ , giving Nurm a glare that wasn't directed at the villager, but rather at the Guardians. Nurm nodded, his own eyebrow going down in the middle. "I think those stupid fish owe me."

"Okay, but..." Cassie started, uncertainly, "a few other people are going to need to run the other way and distract the Guardians, right? Buy you guys time?"

"Yeah, and Reuben should probably not do this part of the job. I haven't taken him to fight Guardians yet, so..." Jesse glanced over at Cassie, the redhead still absentmindedly fingering her suddenly-much-shorter hair. "Cassie, can you stay back and keep an eye on Reuben? Just in case a laser goes his way."

Cassie nodded, gently pulling the little pig hybrid to her side. "You got it."

For once, Reuben didn't complain about being left out. The kid knew when it was his time to fight something, and something he'd _never_ faced before in an underwater temple was _not_ the time, place, or thing to fight.

"Wouldn't mind having some backup," Jack spoke up, with a soft sigh, "whoever isn't doing the running."

Jace and Jesse exchanged a glance, a mental conversation going on between the two in the span of a few seconds. Jesse hadn't developed a mental bond like the one with her brother in a while- she'd practically established hers with the rest of the Hybrid Order over five years ago.

Jace: _I can distract the Guardians._

Jesse: _So can I._

Jace: _Two distractions are better than one, right?_

Jesse: _I guess so. So both of us are doing it?_

Jace: _Yeah. Stay safe._

Jesse: _Same to you._

"We can do it," the twins chorused as they turned to the others, eyes hardening in determination.

"You and Jack can do the sponges," Jesse added, glancing at Petra and Jack, the two adventurers nodding seriously.

Jace glanced over at Jack, an internal battle going on within him.

One side gave out a moment later, and his eyes hardened as he met Jack's eyes. "Watch my fiancee's back for me, will you?" he asked, quietly.

Jack nodded. A moment of understanding passed between the two, and knowing how Jace felt about Jack right now, Jesse couldn't help but repress a grin. "I'll do my best."

Petra wrapped her arms around Jace quickly, pressing her lips to his in a quick kiss. "Stay alive, will you?" she asked, lowering her voice to a softer whisper.

"I'll do my best," Jace echoed, giving her a quick kiss as well.

With that, all of them got up, Cassie pulling Reuben back a safer distance. Jack and Nurm exchanged a grin, clapping their hands together in a tight handshake and giving one another a determined sort of look.

"Okay, everyone," Jesse said, eyes glowing red as a smile came over her face, dropping forward to all eights, "let's get _nuts_."

"Ready!" Jack said, firmly, Nurm backing away a step or two to wait with Cassie and Reuben.

"Ready!" Petra agreed.

"Then _go!_ " Jace dropped to all fours and bolted forward, Jesse streaking forward as well and glancing up at the Guardians, who she was somewhat happy to see were now staring at them both. "Hey, laserlips!" the wolf hybrid barked, Jesse scuttling past him hastily and the two of them separating towards each Guardian.

Immediately, both Guardians looked down at each hybrid, a laser shooting out of their eye right at them.

"Oh, boy," Jesse muttered under her breath, and swerved out of the way of one- before noticing one speeding right at her.

Without skipping a beat, Jesse leaped straight into the air, doing a little somersault as she pulled her limbs into her body more tightly, before landing on the ground and continuing to race forwards.

Jace flung himself sideways over his sister, who instinctively flattened herself to the floor as a laser shot through the small area between the two. "What's it like being ugly _and_ bad at your job?!" Jesse taunted the Guardian, continuing to scuttle forwards towards the other side of the chamber, before being forced to dodge sideways from another one.

Jace skidded a few steps, which actually ended up saving his life as the laser that had been aiming for him managed to go right over his head, although it did singe the side of his armor a bit as it _barely_ missed him. The two raced up the stairs, exchanging a hasty high-five as they skidded to a halt and dodged behind the wall. "Ha!" her brother panted out, giving Jesse an almost jubilant grin, "we made it!"

The spider hybrid returned the grin and quickly leaned out to check on the process of the other two. Petra, on plan, leaped into the air with her sponge, absorbing the water. The Elder Guardian fell to the pedestal the floating water had been floating above a moment earlier, Petra literally landing right on top of it seconds later and jabbing her flaming sword straight into its body, the creature exploding in a cloud of dust.

"Ohh no."

Jesse heard Jack, and immediately swiveled to see what he was looking at. The older man was frozen, staring at something that his body seemed to be blocking, sponge block dangling limply at his side as he started trembling. "No, no..." A moment later, he mumbled something that made Jesse's blood run icy cold, if she'd even heard it correctly.

" _Sammy_..."

Whatever it was- if a memory had gotten triggered again somehow, if he'd somehow remembered something, if he'd _seen_ something out of place, the Elder Guardian was revolving on the spot to stare at him, eye beginning to glow-

"Guys!" Petra shouted, looking around at where Jace and Jesse had just ducked out of the way of the lasers, "we've got a Jack problem!"

Jesse (and, to her slight surprise, Jace) didn't even hesitate- they both leapt down from the staircase and raced towards where Jack was standing, frozen utterly still. Petra had raced over to where the sponges were, and she looked over at Jesse, who happened to be nearer to her. "Jesse! Catch!" she shouted, and she threw the thing in a lazy, soaring arc-

Jesse whipped herself into an upright position, skidding around to a proper position and catching the sponge- the Guardian fired its laser right at Jack- Reuben let out a scream-

Jace plowed into Jack, thus saving both of their lives, slamming the older man into a pile of sponges as the laser _barely_ missed hitting them both and seared into the floor behind them, leaving a long scorched gouge in the floor.

Jesse didn't even take a moment to hesitate as she hurled the sponge block at the floating water. The moment the water made contact with the sponge, all of the floating water was sucked into the block, which collapsed wetly to the pedestal along with the Elder Guardian, whose eye was starting to glow dangerously again. Jesse charged forward without hesitation, whipping out her sword- she let out a yell as she leaped into the air-

The sword slashed straight through the Guardian, making it explode into a cloud of smoke as Jesse landed on one knee, having to catch herself to keep herself from stumbling too far forward.

That taken care of, Jesse whirled around and leaped over to where Jack was, the older man having let the sponge topple out of his hands from where he was now sitting against a wall of sponge, trembling badly. Jace was looking down at him in complete concern as Nurm, Cassie, and Reuben raced over.

"I... I'm so sorry," he whispered, looking as though someone had just hit him in the gut.

Nurm mumbled something in Villagerese as Jack let out a weak groan and curled up a little more.

"Jack?" Petra asked softly, keeping her voice hushed.

"Jack, I don't _care_ about you freezing up, are you _okay?_ " Jesse asked, earnestly, as she crouched down and stared at him. She felt sure that every bit of worry she was feeling right now was written all over her face.

"No," Jack whispered, voice choked up. He was keeping his head down but Jesse could've _sworn_ that she'd seen tears leaking out of his eyes just now. "I'm- I'm not okay."

He managed to straighten up a moment later, tears trickling down his cheeks from both eyes, even the deader-looking gray one, "I'm _really_ sorry, everyone. That pile of inventory there?"

Jesse glanced over to see a diamond, an iron chestplate, some leather pants, a bow, and an empty potion bottle resting on the pedestal, floating innocently. She hadn't spotted it before, what with all the chaos that had just been going on, but now that she had her stomach was contracting in on itself, so that she had a definite knot in the pit of her stomach.

"That was my friend-" his voice completely broke down. "Sammy."

* * *

 **A/N: Poor Jack...**

 **Jace did get over his jealousy a little bit, though, so that's... okay, I guess.**

 **Fun fact: I had an idea of Cassie being a hybrid, but then I decided against it. I think the main reason was that I couldn't find a very good mob to suit her.**

 **Responses to reviewers!**

 **LunarTheMooncake: (laughs) That's true, it would be pretty cute.**

 **TheRealRedGaming: Hello to you too, Red.**

 **CamronXTheXGamer: It was a SMALL crush, the type that passes pretty quickly.**

 **RapidSammi: Lol glad you think so xD**

 **ChloSky: Thank you! / Hm... well, really, I was thinking of a voice something like young Dipper's, from Gravity Falls, except a bit more high-pitched.**

 **M.M.: I don't know xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: No spoilers. :3 / Oh, yes. Very much so. / Hmm. That's not really a good theory, that's not good evidence towards a theory. But... I will say this, with the Admin coming into play, anything's possible.**

 **InsaneAcrobat: Ahh. / (laughs) I see. / Kind of both? He was favored a little more by the Old Builders, but he was definitely also a competitor. / Hm.**

 **Rabbits rule: (makes an interested face) Hm. / Actually, I did think about that. They'd probably only have one kid, and they would probably have brown hair and gold-green eyes. / (laughs)**

 **Peculiar Ann: Yes, I know. If you read the A/N of Cinematic Mode, that definitely would've showed up. xD / So, a little like Episode 8, except in a colder place and Frosty the Snowman. / Hmmm. :3 / (laughs)**

 **ShiningHopeBeast: (laughs) / Yep.**

 **Emily The Avenger: Ahahaha xD**

 **Welp, that's all for this time! See ya, sayonara, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	16. Vos

Jesse's eyes widened as her hands (the uppermost set) went to her mouth, tears beginning to bead in the corners of her eyes as she, for once, ignored the weight of the gauntlet on her right hand. Cassie's shoulders sagged a bit, eyes filling with sympathy for Jack. Reuben let out a little whine, Jesse's lower arms reaching out and tugging him securely to her chest. Petra's gaze grew quite hard, but if you looked closely there were tears forming in her eyes. Jace's gaze softened a bit. "Jack..." he began, softly.

"No!" Jack snapped, glaring at Jace for a moment. He managed to maintain the expression for a few seconds before it crumpled into a haunted look of almost _despair_ that made Reuben start sniffling unhappily, trying to keep _himself_ from crying. "I don't... I don't deserve it."

Another moment passed, before he walked over to the pile of inventory sitting on the pedestal where the floating water block had been earlier, avoiding all of their eyes as they stared at him, sympathetically.

They all knew what it was like to lose someone close to them.

"I need to be alone right now," he said softly, beginning to carefully collect the items from the small pile on the table and hugging them to him as if they were the most precious things in the world, "whatever's left of Vos..." Jack's voice quivered before breaking a little. "... must be somewhere down here too..."

And he began to walk away towards the other side of the room, head hanging and looking so dejected that Jesse could feel a little worm of heartbreak sneak into her chest. Nurm also began to walk away, probably to give Jack some space, and moving into the next doorway area.

"I don't know about you," Jesse began shakily, all of her friends turning to stare at her with sad eyes, "but I want out of this room. The... Structure Block's gotta be close."

Petra glanced back at the other two, before nodding with a determined look coming over her face, and moving off to have a look around the room herself.

Cassie was oddly quiet, arm still around Reuben. Which wasn't like the redhead; honestly, Jesse had been expecting Cassie to say _something_ about the whole situation, _anything_. And yet she still hadn't said a word.

"Cassie?" Jesse asked, turning to her with a concerned look on her face, "are you-"

"Why did you forgive me again?"

Jesse blinked in surprise at Cassie.

Jace, sensing what the topic was about, carefully took ahold of Reuben and started walking the kid towards the other end of the room without any explanation whatsoever, towards the area Jack was standing in. (There was some rushing water there, so as long as Cassie stayed quiet, Reuben probably wouldn't hear a word.)

"... Cass-"

"I know you said it was because we were friends when we were kids, or- at least, I _think_ that's why you said, but- I _still_ don't get it." Cassie was now staring at her feet, eyes beginning to shine wetly. "Just because we were friends once doesn't excuse what I did. I murdered TorqueDawg, I-I murdered _Sparklez_ , I even murdered-"

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Cassie blinked a bit, rapidly. "... uh... sorry. I don't know who I was about to mention. But..." She came to a stop, before looking down at her feet. "Well, you know what I'm getting at," she murmured, eyes fixed on the ground.

"... well, I mean... I forgave Ivor for nearly destroying the world with the Witherstorm. I'd say _that's_ a significantly worse feat than murder," Jesse said quietly.

"That was an accident, he didn't mean to do it. Big difference," Cassie muttered, scowling at the floor as if it had personally offended her.

"... then what about Aiden?" Jesse suggested, trying to meet Cassie's eyes and not really being able to do so. "He nearly destroyed Sky City. And it was on purpose. _That's_ worse than murder."

"Yeah, well he didn't purposely set out to end a life. A city's not a life. Besides, most of the citizens got out."

"Key word being _most_ , Cassie."

The red-haired girl blinked, before looking up at Jesse, who was shaking her head and smiling sadly at her. "He was destroying a _city_. Do you really think all of the occupants came out all fine after that?"

"... I guess we suit each other then."

"Cassie." Jesse's voice was now scolding, almost like a mother scolding a child (and between Jace and Reuben, this girl had had _quite_ a lot of practice with that tone of voice).

Cassie forced herself to meet Jesse's eyes, the shorter girl's eyes beginning to glow slightly red as she stared hard at Cassie. "Listen to me. We've been through a lot together now, you'd say that, right?"

"... yeah, of course."

Jesse spread her arms, giving Cassie a significant look. "Would you say that you're the same person as you were back then?"

"No," Cassie replied immediately.

"Why?"

"Because- I haven't killed anybody," Cassie replied, taken aback at the sharp tone in Jesse's voice, "I- I haven't committed any crimes- heck, except for when we're trying to trap bad guys, I haven't even built any traps-"

"So you're saying you're a better person now?"

"I- yes, I suppose I am," Cassie said, slightly taken aback still. Jesse was usually so mild that when she got confrontational, it was actually a bit jarring. Jesse's gaze was so intense, that she forced herself to drop her head again and stare at her shoes.

Jesse relaxed now, her right eye going back to a lovely shade of green, and she gave Cassie a slightly concerned look. "... when I let you come with us back then, I-" She bit her lip, as if concerned that saying this was going to do something bad... before continuing, "I actually _hadn't_ forgiven you."

Cassie's eyes widened, and her head jerked up as she stared at Jesse.

...

Well, she'd certainly been fooled.

"You... hadn't?" she asked, still a little stunned.

"Well, no, Cassie, of course not, you'd just committed _murder,_ why would I just- up and forgive you like that?" Jesse asked, giving Cassie that concerned look still. It was as though she were scared that these words would revert Cassie or whatever. "That's just not... a smart move. I didn't know how much you'd changed, I didn't know how far you'd go to get out of there, for all I knew you'd have stabbed us in the back and just run away."

Cassie continued staring at Jesse, heartbeat quickening as she continued staring at her old friend. "You hadn't forgiven me?" she repeated, frowning at her in confusion. "Then... then why did you...?"

"Let you come along?" Jesse correctly guessed what Cassie had been about to ask. "Well... quite a few reasons, actually. You seemed like you'd be more helpful actually coming along than being trapped in a pit for the rest of eternity," she started ticking the reasons off on her fingers, "I wanted to see if _you_ were still down there- you know, the person I used to know rather than... the White Pumpkin," Jesse said the name as quickly as possible, "and..."

Jesse paused again, for a couple of moments, but to Cassie the silence lasted a whole 'nother seven years, "I... wanted to give you a second chance."

"... I thought you said you hadn't-"

"I still _hadn't_ forgiven you," Jesse interrupted, looking back up and meeting Cassie's eyes, "but... I can usually tell when people still have the opportunity to be... I don't know. A good person." Another short pause. "... and I saw that with you. So, I wanted to give you a chance, and... I don't know. That seemed like the best way for me to do it."

There was a few, long moments of silence, before Cassie gave Jesse a weak smile, tears still shining in her eyes. "I... why didn't you tell me this before?" she asked, voice a near _croak_.

Jesse gave her shoulders the tiniest shrug, returning Cassie's weak smile. "You never asked before. Besides..." She shrugged again, as if she didn't really know what else to do. "I forgave you about four years ago. I meant to tell you after that, but after a while it just didn't seem important."

"... huh." Cassie wasn't sure what else she could say, sniffing a bit a moment later and rubbing tears out of her eyes, giving Jesse a teary smile. "I... guess that makes sense. I was... kinda wondering why you'd let me get off scot-free for murder."

"Well, you hadn't exactly been in your right mind at that point." Jesse gave a little shrug again, her shoulders relaxing a bit. "I didn't want to blame you so heavily for something that wasn't _entirely_ your fault."

There was a moment's pause, where the two of them were looking at each other, before Jesse cleared her throat a bit, glancing around the temple and giving Jace a nod. He nodded back and started coming back over with the pig hybrid. "Well, um... we should have a look around and figure out how to get into the next room, huh?"

"Oh. Yeah, that would be a good idea." With that, Cassie gave the ridiculously huge amount of loot that the Elder Guardian Jesse had killed a glance, trying to recompose her face into a less emotional one. She could afford to be sappy later. "This is... an unnatural amount of loot to pop out of one Guardian."

"Well, I mean, it _is_ an Elder Guardian."

"Yeah, but still." By the time Reuben was close enough to see Cassie's expression, she'd more or less gotten it back under control. "Let's see what he dropped."

Jace put a hand to his heart, looking mockingly offended. "Cassie, are you _assuming_ the Elder Guardian's _gender?_ " he asked, a bit over-the-top but very amusing anyway.

Reuben giggled. "I didn't even know Elder Guardians had a way of telling gender," he said, cheerfully.

"Oh, well if you're so smart, Jace, why don't you tell us what the Elder Guardian's gender was?" Petra joked teasingly, trying to pretend there was nothing wrong and that nothing had happened- for Reuben's sake. (He _still_ didn't know about what Cassie had done. Jesse was planning to wait until he had turned 13 to even mention it to him, if that was possible, and everyone agreed that was probably the best thing to do.)

"Oh, yes, I'll tell you all the little details I noticed while I was running for my life from it," Jace teased back, giving the Blaze hybrid an Eskimo kiss. (One of the only things Petra liked that was even remotely related to cold things.)

Reuben hopped up a bit to get a better look at the loot. "The Guardian dropped... a lot of prismarine shards," he reported, "and... um... Jesse what's all this shiny stuff?"

Jesse stopped giggling madly and leaned forward to get a better look, eyes widening. "Whoa... I think those are prismarine _crystals._ "

Petra got distracted from the Eskimo kiss at that, leaning over to get a better look at the stuff. "Huh. _Sweet_ drop! Those are _mega_ rare." And she gave Jesse a grin.

Jesse leaned over, scooping up every last bit of loot into her arms. Hey, she'd killed this Guardian. She deserved it. "Mine!" she joked, cheerily, making the rest of them chuckle a little bit at the spider hybrid's antics. Petra also went and collected the loot she'd gotten from killing _her_ Guardian.

After a few more moments of chuckling, Jace sobered up, leaning over to look at Petra. "Are you okay?" he asked, seriously, and somehow the entire group could tell he didn't just mean from fighting the Guardian.

"Yeah." Petra glanced over at Jack to see him still hugging Sammy's stuff, back turned to them all. "I can't stop thinking about what happened to Jack." They all glanced over to see Jack hunching over even further on himself, and Jesse could've _sworn_ she heard sniffling coming from his direction.

"Just..." the redhead turned back to them all, a highly uncomfortable look on her face, before glancing from each of their faces in rapid succession, "if I saw any of _your_ inventory piles down here, I don't think I'd be handling it any better than _he_ is."

Reuben let out a soft whine as well, tightening his arms around Jesse in a tight hug.

Jesse gave a slight nod, watching as Jace gave Petra's hands a little tug and led her away a bit, where he spoke to her softly enough that none of the others could really hear him. Having nowhere else to look, both Jesse and Cassie looked straight up. "Cassie, you used to live with the Old Builders- did you ever see glowing obsidian?" Jesse asked, Reuben also tilting his head back to get a good look.

"No, I don't think I ever did... so strange," Cassie mumbled, narrowing her eyes at one of them...

And then a _voice_ called out, from the strange shape on the ceiling, to the side closest to where Jesse's Guardian had been, near the way they'd come in. "Hello? Is someone there?" The voice was muffled, and echoed strangely, but it was _definitely_ there.

"Wait- what?!" Cassie exclaimed, eyes widening.

Reuben gasped. "Is someone in there?"

"I- that's where we heard the voice from. Um, hello?!" Jesse shouted back, setting Reuben down to cup her one gauntlet-clad hand and the other uppermost one to her mouth, amplifying the shout.

The man (it sounded like a man) inside the cage let out a relieved laugh. "Ah, I _thought_ I heard someone! _Callou callay_! I- I think if you get the door open, my cage should open too!"

He paused for a moment. "Uh, you know. If you don't mind." Whoever-it-was let out a little, almost happy sigh. "It's _so_ nice to hear another voice after all this time."

"How'd you even get up there, though?" Reuben called up, frowning at the obsidian cage.

With someone trapped in there, that seemed like an appropriate name for it.

"Ohh, ah, is someone else there? It sounds like... a child?" The voice was concerned for a moment, before apparently having remembered Reuben had asked a question. "Well, er, I got trapped a _long_ time ago. I-it's very smelly in here now, and... ah, I'll say nothing more on the subject."

Jesse, Cassie, and Reuben exchanged worried looks. Mainly: _how the heck did someone get stuck up there?!_

"I'll leave you to it," the man continued. "I've got a good feeling about you and that door."

And he chuckled again before falling silent.

Jesse glanced over at Cassie and Reuben, before starting to actually jog towards the exit. A bit perplexed by the sudden urgency, Reuben scrambled to keep up. Cassie stayed back a few steps- still looking a bit shell-shocked about what Jesse had just told her- but looked just as perplexed as Reuben. "Um... J-Jesse-?"

"C'mon- some guy is stuck up there. We have to try to get him down!" and quickly, Jesse continued to speed up, rushing up the stairs and coming to a stop in front of the elaborate doorway, which seemed to be composed of the same shape Jesse had noticed upon coming in...

Except, well, it was missing a few parts. One side seemed a bit dimmer than the other, and that was mainly because it was missing a few Sea Lanterns in the design.

"Hmm... I bet this is some sort of puzzle," Cassie mumbled, narrowing her eyes at it.

"... I bet you're right. The question is, we need dark prismarine, and some Sea Lanterns to finish the design, if that's actually the puzzle." Jesse's frown deepened, and she glanced around, spotting Nurm nearby but nothing much. "Maybe if we mine away some of the staircase, we can make a crafting table, and that would fix the whole Sea Lantern issue..."

"I don't think we need to- I think there's a crafting table right there," Reuben said, pointing to his left.

And indeed, when Jesse turned to have a look, there was indeed a crafting table. There was also a chest not five feet away from it. "Oh... yeah, you're right." Jesse smiled, shoulders relaxing, and ruffled up the pig hybrid's hair, making him giggle and swat at her hand a bit. "Good eye, kiddo."

Jesse walked past Nurm- he looked a little preoccupied- and came to a stop next to the chest. She gave it a dubious look before _very carefully_ lifting up the lid, just in case it was booby-trapped. (She was very relieved to find that it wasn't.) "Oh- dark prismarine!" Jesse immediately reached in and took the small stack out out, giving it a casual toss with her middlemost set of arms before popping each piece into her pockets. "That should help us finish the design on the door."

"And hey, this temple was nice enough to provide a crafting table," Cassie said, gesturing at the table grandly as if it were some amazing thing. (It wasn't, though now that Jesse considered it it _was_ a little odd to have a crafting table in the Sea Temple. Oh well, she wasn't going to question it.)

Working quickly (six arms could be very useful sometimes), Jesse managed to craft two Sea Lanterns- that was all the loot from the Elder Guardian was able to make, but it was still quite helpful. Taking both Sea Lanterns and tucking it into her inventory, Jesse continued back towards the doorway, and would've kept going if Nurm hadn't turned around right then.

"Oh- hi Mr. Nurm!" Reuben chirped, cheery as always.

Nurm gave them a friendly smile and comment in Villagerese, patting Reuben on the head. A moment later, he frowned, making another comment. Since both Cassie and Jesse were nowhere near fluent in Villagerese, it was up to Jesse to try to at least decipher what he'd just said. "Ah... yeah, you must be worried about Jack, right?"

Nurm nodded, his face still worried. (Jesse let out a little sigh of relief. She'd been so nervous that she'd got it wrong.) "He'll be okay," Jesse said, and hoped that by stating this it would make it true.

The villager made an uncertain comment. They all stood in silence for a moment longer, before Cassie cleared her throat. "Uh... yeah. We'll get back to this."

And with that, they moved back to the design. Jesse scanned the doorway for a moment, before glancing at the other two. "Okay, I can handle the top three spaces up there," and she pointed at a hole missing the dark prismarine, and two missing Sea Lanterns. "Reuben, there's a hole where you should put the dark prismarine, right on the floor, and Cassie, there's one a little above that, do you see it?"

Both regarded the doorway, thoughtfully, before nodding vigorously at her. Well, Reuben nodded vigorously, but Cassie just nodded and gave Jesse a smile. "Yep. I see it."

Jesse nodded, pulling out two of the blocks of dark prismarine and tossing it to both. Reuben had to use both hands to catch it, very nearly fumbling and dropping it, but he _did_ catch it. Cassie, on the other hand, expertly caught it using only one hand.

"Fancy," Jesse joked, making them both giggle, before Jesse backed up a few steps, absentmindedly noticing Reuben stooping down to poke his block into place and Cassie slotting hers in neatly.

She then took off, dropping to all eights and speeding for the doorway before leaping into the air, _just_ managing to flip herself around enough to have her lower legs hit the wall, several of her limbs bracing her in place upside down on the wall. When you're a spider hybrid, Jesse had learned the hard way, you have to be _very_ flexible and almost acrobatic quite a good amount of the time.

Neatly, she popped in the two Sea Lanterns in one go, before backing up the wall and slotting in the last piece of dark prismarine, crossing her fingers and hoping that she'd interpreted the puzzle correctly.

The door suddenly started rumbling, and the spider hybrid leaped down, landing on her two uppermost hands and using the downwards momentum to provide enough launch to flip her back into the air, whereupon she quickly flipped around before landing neatly on her feet.

Petra whistled. "Nice. Was worried you weren't quite as acrobatic as you were a few years ago."

"I do _paperwork_ , Petra, I'm not a slacker. I _do_ practice, y'know," and Jesse playfully elbowed her friend as the door slid open, stone grating on stone as the door rumbled open, revealing a corridor beyond it. Jesse wasn't paying attention to the corridor, though- she was rapidly turning around on the spot, lifting her head to look at that one cage on the ceiling.

The glowing obsidian in the cages was steadily thudding, each thud making a patch of glowing obsidian disappear. Upon reaching the last two, someone wearing blue and gold (a bit like the middle of the Order's amulet, if Jesse thought about it) suddenly dropped out with a scream, landing face-first on the ground. Jesse recognized the voice, even though she'd only heard it for less than a minute earlier- it was the guy who'd asked her to figure out the door.

"Oh gosh!" Jesse dropped to all eights and raced over to where he was unsteadily climbing to his feet, heart thudding away in her chest, "Is he-?"

By the time she was there, though, the man- who had a rather copious amount of white hair and a nice little goatee and mustache- was on his feet, rolling his shoulder and cracking his joints with a relieved laugh. Jesse was _very_ relieved to see that he was okay. "Oh, thank the tides! I'm finally free! It has- ack-" and he coughed a little, bringing his arm up to his mouth, as everyone quickly came over to make sure he was alright, "it has been a very, _very_ long time." And he gave them all a bit of a tired smile.

Jesse glanced around at the others. As expected, Jace, Petra, Cassie, and Reuben's faces were quite blank (though relieved that he appeared to be alright) at the sight of the man, and even Nurm didn't really seem to know who he was.

However, _Jack_ was slowly approaching the man, eyes wide and mouth hanging open as he gaped at him, as if afraid the other man was going to vanish at any second.

When he didn't, his face suddenly broke out in a grin, and he broke out into a full-out run and _threw_ his arms around the other guy with a huge grin on his face. " _VOS!_ "

* * *

 **A/N: Awww. I thought I should end on a nice, heartwarming note for once. xD**

 **EPISODE 2 COMES OUT TOMORROW AW YEAAAAA**

 **Fun fact: It took Jesse and Lukas fifty hints and six years of joking, teasing, and playfully matchmaking from their friends for them to get a hint and start dating.**

 **InsaneAcrobat: No... cats are just trained ocelots, plus the fun fact was to say that she WAS going to be a hybrid at some point, but I've since scrapped those plans. / Nope, probably not. Maybe, but most likely not. / Huh. / Yes, bloopers will come much later in the story. ... much, much, MUCH later. / (laughs) I hadn't played since I was thirteen, so it was like starting Minecraft for the first time.**

 **RapidSammi: Yeah, but hey! Vos is back! :3**

 **Jack: No, because a spider jockey is technically two separate entities. / We also know that he may not be a he due to Stirpicus (lead writer of MCSM Season 2) replying to someone asking about Sammy, saying "Who said Sammy is a he?" / Nurm was only in a few scenes apparently, and the trailer showed none of them. / (laughs) Ah, nice. / Naaah, it's cool.**

 **TheAmberShadow: (laughs) No, I don't think Jesse would take much comfort in that at all. / Trust is VERY good. / Oh (winces) I can see how that'd be a bit painful.**

 **Rabbits rule: No, Petra doesn't want twins. Ask her if you wanna know why. / But I do agree that it would be pretty funny.**

 **ShiningHopeBeast: If she can find someone who can teach her, haha. xD / (chuckles) Very true.**

 **TheRealRedGaming: ... you do that, Red.**

 **andie: ... you do realize that I explain a ton of this sort of stuff later in the story, right? Well, you're probably not going to actually READ this, so... not much point in writing it. Ah well. I like that you think the stories are a ton of fun, but I'm not sure you're sticking around long enough to see the parts where stuff starts making sense.**

 **Welp, that's all! See ya, sayonara, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	17. The Sea Temple

"Wait-" Petra's eyes widened, "This is another one of your adventurer friends?"

In the very edge of her peripheral vision, Jesse noticed Jace's eyebrows furrowing again. She went to shoot him a slightly irritated look- like, she was very glad that he loved Petra enough to be protective, but even being protective had it's limits- but stopped when she noticed that it was more of a thoughtful, if not outright bewildered, look than anything else.

Jack turned around, eyes shining with so much happiness it was actually heartwarming. "Yes! This is my friend, Vos!" he exclaimed, voice filled with joy, before he turned to Vos again, the other occupants of the room completely forgotten. "I thought you were a _goner_ , man!"

"This is... unbelievable," Cassie whispered, eyes wide in surprise but also shining with something akin to a muted delight. Nurm made an agreeing sort of humming sound.

"You can say that again," Jace mumbled. It was _just_ loud enough that Jesse picked it up, but still quiet enough that no one else seemed to notice it. She turned to give her brother a confused sort of look.

He noticed it and mouthed "Later" to her.

She nodded and turned back around to face Vos. When Jace said later, he _did_ mean 'later'. He didn't mean " _just telling you later so that you'll forget about it and I won't have to explain._ " (Which Jesse had learned the hard way that sometimes, when someone said 'later', that was what 'later' meant.)

"How'd you even _survive_ down here for so long?" Jesse asked, blinking quizzically at Vos with a tiny but friendly smile on her face. Despite looking quite old, he still looked like he was in quite good shape, actually.

Vos chuckled again, good-naturedly. "Haha. If you sit _absolutely still_ ," and he jokingly huddled down a bit, eyes shifting, before straightening back up and giving Jesse his own friendly smile, "You'd be amazed at how long a stack of porkchops will last."

Jesse immediately felt her smile drop right off of her face. Behind her, she could hear Jace growl faintly and almost instinctively, as if it was more of an impulse than a conscious choice. Cassie sucked in a quick breath, Petra winced, and Reuben made a very loud, rather angry pig sound, arms tightening around Jesse's leg.

Vos's smile fell as he looked around at the suddenly-very-upset expressions on their faces. "Er... did I say something wrong?" he asked, rather meekly.

"Sort of. It's just that... ahh... Reuben's a... pig... hybrid," Jesse said, slowly, gesturing at the kid currently hugging her leg as if Vos was going to eat _him_. (And quite angry at the comment as well, if the way he was squeezing her leg was any indication.)

Vos's eyes widened, and his hand went to his mouth as the older man suddenly looked extremely embarrassed. "Oh! Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize. But, er, if he's a hybrid, then..." His eyes travelled over Jesse's four extra arms, Petra's gold arm and the way sparks were beginning to flit into the air off of her, Reuben's pig ears, Jace's clearly not-human wolf ears and tail, before going back to Jesse, a questioning look in his eyes. "Are you... all... hybrids?" he asked, slowly.

"No. Just me, Reuben, Jace, and Petra. Cassie's a great fighter, but she's not a hybrid," Jesse said, gesturing at the redhead beside her.

"Ah, I see. A-anyway," Vos said, trying to get the conversation away from what had just happened, "it's _so_ good to meet you. Now, what are your names?" And he looked around the group, smiling.

"I'm Jesse, and, ah, I'm a spider hybrid." Jesse proceeded to use all of her arms to point at the various others around them. "The wolf hybrid's Jace, the Blaze hybrid is Petra, that's Cassie Rose, and this little kiddo is, uh, well, Reuben."

Reuben stared defiantly at Vos, pale brown eyes narrowing, before he turned his head the other way resolutely, refusing to look at Vos. The small child practically _radiated_ indignation right now.

"Uhh... sorry about that. He's..." Jesse glanced down at Reuben, before back up at Vos, giving him an apologetic look. "He's a bit offended about just now. He'll forgive you in a bit."

There was a short pause as Reuben let out an almost derisive snort.

"... maybe."

"Ah, I see," Vos repeated, "Well, if I'm not mistaken, _you've_ just made it further into this temple than anyone ever before." He gave a soft chuckle, before turning back to Jesse, who blinked a bit at the sudden attention. "You are truly something special."

The spider hybrid felt her cheeks flush slightly pink at the compliment. Jace gave his sister a firm pat on the back and a soft yap, while Cassie grinned and slung her arm over Jesse's shoulders. "Eh, she has her moments," the redhead said mildly.

"So." Vos rubbed his arms, glancing around the temple. "Escape time, yes? Time to get out of here and leave?"

Jesse paused, feeling her cheeks go even redder- but this time out of sheer embarrassment, because of course they couldn't just _do_ that. "Oh. Uhhhh..."

"What?" Jace surmised, arching his eyebrow slightly. (Well, he couldn't _do_ it properly, but it was a good enough attempt.)

"Yeah... what?" Petra asked, giving Vos a rather squinty look.

Vos let out a sort of tired sigh. "Come now, Jesse. You've made it _this_ far... and you're still alive. That's a victory enough!"

Everyone in the room was now exchanging sheepish glances with one another. Well, to be honest, most of them quite agreed with Vos, and _all_ of them would've _gladly_ just walked back out... but Beacontown was still in danger. That... Heckmouth, was still spitting out charged creepers. There was no telling how long it would take for it to blow up again, and then what would they do?

"I'd really like to see the sunshine again..." Vos sighed, more wistfully this time, "I hope it's as nice as I remember."

Jesse let out a very long, very reluctant sigh. "Sorry, Vos. Not until we get the treasure that we came here for," she told him, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"Yep," Petra said simply. Jace nodded, tail beginning to wag a bit again, and even Reuben had at least turned back to look at Vos. He didn't look any less offended than before, but at least he was looking at Vos.

Vos looked at Jack, as if his word was going to convince Jesse to stop looking. To Jesse's slight surprise, Jack let out a long, gusty sigh. "Even _I'll_ admit... it would be nice to _finally_ get some closure on this place."

The white-haired man vacillated for a few seconds longer, before letting out an annoyed huff. "Fine. But if you get me killed after all this time I am going to be _incredibly_ cross."

"And believe me, we would not blame you," Cassie called over her shoulder, sending him an apologetic look as they all started walking again. (Jesse scooped Reuben up and put him on her back again.)

As the group continued into the corridor that Jesse had opened up earlier, Petra made a sort of "ugh" sound in disgust. "More of those _weird_ statues."

These statues had more tentacles coming from their mouth, and looked a bit more like some type of soldier from an ancient civilization than anything else. Well, except for the weird tentacle-head things, but- you get the point!

"At least these things aren't doing the creepy head thing," Jace mumbled, glancing at one as they walked past. And indeed, the eyes of these statues remained dead, empty sockets, the statues standing perfectly still in their spots in the wall.

Coming to the end of the corridor, Jesse found yet another one of the holes for the gauntlets. The spider hybrid lifted her arm and punched it into the hole again, without much of a pause, the wall sliding up rapidly- and suddenly, sounds that were rather reminiscent of zombies began to moan behind them.

Jack glanced over his shoulder with his good eye, brow furrowing. "That's a _bad_ sound-"

In a sort of mechanical sync, the soldier-statues stepped out of their places in the wall and turned their heads in spooky sync to stare at the group, eyes now glowing that strange greenish-blue color.

"Yep very bad!" Petra exclaimed, as the soldier-statues turned to face them fully.

Everyone began backing away from them, Reuben giving the softest whimper from where he was perched on her back. The moment Jesse spotted the strange _prismarine weapons_ they were holding she whirled around on her heel and charged for the staircase beyond where the wall had just been. "Come on, come on _come on!_ " she shouted, everyone else turning on their heel and racing after her.

"I hope you have a plan to get rid of those things!" Jace shouted, as he dropped to all fours to speed up.

"I've got a _temporary_ one!" Jesse replied, skidding around as she reached the base of the staircase to see the prismarine soldier-statues charging at the group, "I just hope-"

She didn't get to finish the statement. Vos had _barely_ managed to pass the doorway when the wall abruptly came slamming back down, nearly clipping his heel and making him stumble. As it was, he tripped into Nurm, who was barely able to keep the other man upright without dropping them both to the ground.

Everyone panted, trying to get some air back into their lungs from the sudden burst of exertion, as Jack let out a breathless chuckle. "Heh-heh. Adventuring. Woo! Heh."

"I'm glad you remembered that the doors just slam shut behind us," Cassie gasped, taking off her glasses and giving them a quick polish, "that at least provides us with a temporary barrier, although I don't know how stubborn or how strong they are."

"Let's not worry about that right now, huh?" Jace eked out, his tongue hanging out of his mouth a bit as he panted. (He'd discovered a while back that sometimes that was helpful.)

Petra shook her head, walking towards the wall with this _utterly_ bewildered look on her face. "I don't get it! What _are_ they?" Sparks were spitting off of her as she turned around, right before reaching the wall, splaying her hands out in confusion. "They're kinda zombie-shaped, they sort of _sound_ like zombies but those are _definitely_ not zombies."

"I guess that bit of wisdom where 'if it walks like a talk and looks like a duck and talks like a duck, then it's probably a duck' doesn't apply in this situation," Cassie mumbled, making a soft rumble of laughter go through the group.

Jesse was silent, smiling slightly, before glancing over her shoulder and up the long staircase.

Without a word, she turned around and began walking up the staircase slowly, prepared for some booby trap or other nasty thing to pop out at them, although nothing did. The moment her head rose above the last step of the staircase, her eyes widened, and she sped up and broke into a slight run as she moved further into the temple, because this temple was like _nothing_ she'd ever seen before. "Oh _wow_. _Wow!_ "

You remember the Old Builder's temple? That was a nice temple, but the interior of _this_ temple beat _everything_ about _that_ temple hands down. _This_ was by far one of the most impressive temples Jesse had ever seen.

"Vos, Nurm." Jack's voice was firm as he let out a sort of relieved chuckle. "We did it. We're inside!"

The staircase opened up into a room that was at least _half_ the size of Beacontown, made entirely out of prismarine (both the regular kind and dark), chiseled stone, and quartz, lit with a mix of flames and Sea Lanterns, and I can't even describe the thing half-decently because words do the place no justice. This place was _really_ something.

Vos let out a slightly disbelieving laugh, staring around the temple with as much interest as Jesse was showing. "Oh! Yes! And it is _incredible!_ "

A few moments of respectful silence passed, no one daring to even move too much further into the temple, as if doing so was going to break something. When a minute had trickled past, Jace slowly slipped past his sister and began to poke further into the temple. As if his movements triggered some sort of 'okay' for the rest of the group, Vos, Nurm, and Jack began walking up the steps that led to higher areas that were glowing brightly with Sea Lanterns.

"Okay, guys. Structure Block's gotta be in here," Jesse said thoughtfully, twisting her head from side to side and gazing around the gigantic room they'd stepped into.

"How... do you know?" Petra asked, curiously, as Cassie went over to this sort of pedestal in the center of the room to take a closer look.

Jesse paused. It was just the sort of instinct she'd developed over the years- her so-called 'gut feeling'. After ignoring said gut feeling once and ending up knee-deep in a pile of green sand while trapped in the world's largest hourglass (very long story that we currently do NOT have the time to elaborate on), she'd learned to trust it.

Even when it told her to do insane things, like go into a creepy temple over ten miles under the sea.

"Just... a feeling, I guess?"

Cassie squinted at the pedestal she'd gone to inspect, twisting to look over her shoulder at Jesse. "Well, I feel like this is important, but I don't really know why," she said, staring thoughtfully at it.

"Try to avoid touching anything unless we _absolutely_ have to- I'd rather not end up dying via a giant booby trap or something," Jesse said, making a little face that made the entire (younger) group snicker a little.

Jesse smiled cheerfully at that, and was about to keep going when her phone- which she'd entirely forgotten about, to be honest- buzzed in her pocket.

Jesse glanced down, smile faltering, before flicking it out and opening it to the messaging app.

 _Unknown: Yes, the Structure Block is in this room. Just go up the stairs._

It was a little difficult, maneuvering the clunky gauntlet on her uppermost right hand (seriously, Jesse was starting to get _so_ irritated with this thing) to tap a coherent message onto the phone, but Jesse managed it.

 _Jesse: How do you know where I am and what we're talking about?_

 _Unknown: Let's just say I know a lot of things._

 _Jesse: Who are you? Why should I trust you?_

 _Unknown: I'm not going to send you into danger, if that's worried about. Don't worry about that. You can trust me._

For some reason, Jesse didn't get the impression that she just _shouldn't_ trust this person. That was probably the only reason she continued tapping messages out to this unknown person.

 _Jesse: I'm not going to trust someone if I don't even know their name._

 _Ariza Luca: Fair enough. You can call me Ariza Luca._

 _Jesse: 'Call you'? Is Ariza Luca your real name?_

 _Ariza Luca: Not really, but it's what everyone else calls me. Just call me Ariza if you need to refer to me._

There was a short pause where Jesse was wondering if she should respond or not, when another message popped up on the screen- from Ariza, of course.

 _Ariza Luca: I am telling the truth, by the way._

 _Jesse: About what?_

 _Ariza Luca: About trusting me. I know that I'm being suspicious by not telling you everything or explaining, but I can't right now. I can promise that you can trust me, though._

The funny thing?

Jesse's gut feeling told her that she _should_ trust Ariza.

* * *

 **A/N: Ahhh, nice way to end this chapter for today.**

 **I cannot wait for when I can write Episode 2 x3**

 **Fun fact: If Petra were to lose a limb, she'd grow it back but as a Blaze-Rod sort of form. She is the only member of the Hybrid Order that can do this.**

 **Regarding that line of 'code' back in the last chapter, if enough people want me to, I will put hints in the next A/N.**

 **LunarTheMooncake: (laughs) / Yasssss**

 **ShiningHopeBeast: Yep! :3 / Yeah, Lukas is awesome. I love him platonically with my heart and soul :3 / (laughs) It's the only type of 'kiss' Jesse and Lukas do. / Hecc yeaaaah**

 **J.M.M: Ah.**

 **TheAmberShadow: Exactly. / (laughs) Does she really? I haven't done that route before. / Remember the 'glitch' back in Jack's shop? Yeah. Same concept. This one's also a code, literally. / (laughs) Yeah, it's not the most thought-out plan. / (coughs) / (chuckles)**

 **andie: Oh, no, I have no problem with that. It's just that I tend to explain things later in the story, rather than at the beginning... so it wouldn't make sense at the beginning and ends up going "Oh, I see" at the end. So I actually find it a little funny that you stopped reading before I even started getting into the deeper layers of the whole thing. XD / Ah, I see! / Hmm... well, I don't really have a favorite. I find both amazing.**

 **indecisive bird: (laughs) / Noooo I loved the joke xD**

 **ThatJackaboy: I have never heard a truer statement xD / I've never watched the Matrix lolol / (chuckles) / (laughs) Well, glad to see you joining us!**

 **homeworkoverload: If other people want 'em, I'll stick 'em up, but even if they don't, I'll write them for you :3 / He had a job at a coffee shop and is not good at dealing with asshole customers. He quit a few days ago haha.**

 **Rabbits rule: Well, technically _I_ can control _them_ having twins or not, since I'm the author xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	18. Worst Statues EVER

Deciding to follow 'Ariza's' advice, Jesse started up the staircase, letting Reuben down so he could trot along next to her. Ascending the staircase, Jesse paused next to one of the blocks of prismarine with strange, swirling designs etched into it. "Huh. You know, I bet a lot of people back home have never even _seen_ prismarine before," she said thoughtfully, giving the block of prismarine a small smile.

"Yeah, much less this _weirdo_ prismarine," Petra chimed in as she came up the stairs with Jace beside her and Cassie bringing up the rear, grinning widely. "So cool!"

Carefully continuing up the next, much shorter staircase, Jesse came to where the entire group from before (Vos, Jack, and Nurm) were standing in a small circle, talking away animatedly. It was nice to see Jack was... honestly, a lot more comfortable in the temple than before. Maybe because he had his old friend back.

Well, he still looked _uncomfortable_ , but at least he was smiling a little bit when he talked to Vos.

"You guys doing okay?" she asked, Reuben still mostly behind her and looking away from Vos. _Man_ , he was taking that comment personally.

"I don't like any of it, Jesse," Jack said, turning to the shorter girl and letting his brow furrow slightly, "It's giving me a bad feeling. And my instincts are better than nine ocelots tied together."

Vos scoffed and shook his head at the other man. "That doesn't even make any _sense_ ," he complained.

Jack's gaze softened again, and Jesse could've _sworn_ he was smiling a bit. "Heh... just like old times, buddy."

Jesse came to a stop next to a Sea Lantern that was providing enough light for her to see _quite_ a ways. " _Man_ , these are bright. Love it!" she said in a light, sing-songy tone, making Reuben giggle a little, before looking up at the wall that the Sea Lanterns seemed to be illuminating. Weird rune-like symbols were carved into the wall, probably illustrating some sort of story, but Jesse couldn't really read it.

She squinted at it for a good minute, before glancing over her shoulder at Nurm, who was still talking to Vos and Jack. Jace and Petra glanced over at Jesse's call as well, and even Cassie looked up. "Hey, Nurm- think you could give me a hand with these?" And she absentmindedly waved her middlemost arm in a grand, waving gesture at the wall.

Nurm came over immediately, all of the others crowding around to look at the wall themselves. The cartographer villager immediately started speaking, reading off of the runes, and Jack let out an annoyed sigh- " _Ugh_ "- before translating for the rest of the group in the most bored, unenthusiastic voice Jesse had ever heard _anyone_ use. "Nurmie says they say, 'Once the world was flat: no mountains, no rivers, no trees. Until the Admin'- _ugh_!" he punctuated the statement with a soft noise of disgust. "'Build the mountains, sculpted the rivers, crafted the trees.' Bunch of superstitious malarky," and he walked away rather quickly.

Jesse made a noncommittal humming noise, before turning around and heading up yet another short set of stairs, along with the others, which led to another area where runes were illuminated clearly on the wall.

"These are kinda cool," Cassie hummed, thoughtfully. "I mean, I can barely _read_ them- just a word here or there- but it's still pretty cool to see such an old language when it's not in a book."

Jace nodded absently at the comment, Jesse thoughtfully regarding the wall, before glancing back in Nurm's direction again. "Nurm, sorry to bother you again, but-"

Nurm didn't seem to mind, to his credit- he just came over again and looked up at the wall for a minute, staring at them thoughtfully, before beginning to read them off. Jack translated again, still in that _incredibly_ bored voice, "'The Admin saw that there were no more heroes worthy of his challenges, so he left this world until the _next_ great heroes emerged.'"

Something clicked slightly in Jesse's mind.

Jack had been a great adventurer- and from what Petra had noted, a _great hero_.

Jesse was, in the words of dozens of other people, a _great hero_.

Both had received gauntlets. But both had had varying levels of success with their expeditions to this Sea Temple.

Was that a coincidence?

Jack made a derisive sigh, turning back to Nurm. "Can't _believe_ you buy into this stuff. That's obviously just the cop-out way of saying 'he never really existed'," he muttered.

Maybe it was just Nurm's repeated insisting. Maybe it was this old temple. Maybe it was the floating water, glowing obsidian, and weird prismarine.

But Jesse was _really_ starting to feel like that wasn't the case.

Deciding to shake it off for now, Jesse moved and headed up another flight of stairs, coming to an area that was lit by firelight rather than a Sea Lantern, before turning a corner and heading up a final flight of stairs, the path illuminated by sets of Sea Lanterns, until coming to a halt at the top of the temple, for the long, winding staircase and landings had come to a stop.

Now, Jesse was standing in front of an area glowing with an eerie, ghostly light that you could only get from Sea Lanterns. Two blocks with strange designs on the sides that seemed oddly familiar to Jesse were hovering slightly, in front of two different structures. One was a green, emerald-enhanced structure with what looked like dispensers on it. The other, was a thick, sturdy-looking wall made of obsidian- both the glowing _and_ the normal kind- and augmented at the _very_ corners with emerald blocks.

"This must be it," Jack said, drawing level with Jesse as she stared at them for a moment, trying to place the patterns for a few seconds, racking her brain as to _where exactly_ she'd seen them before, because she _had_ seen them before, she just didn't remember _where_. "It's _gotta_ be."

It clicked in Jesse's head, and she raised her gauntlet-clad arm to point from one block to another, feeling Reuben up up on the side nearest to Jack and Cassie, Jace, and Petra come up behind and to her sides, also regarding the strangely glowing blocks. "Look, that symbol- it looks just like the one we saw underground!"

The _literal moment_ she said that, the gauntlet on her arm started to throb and pulse with that eerie, greenish-blue light. " _Jeeessssssssseeeeee..._ " the voice whispered.

Jesse's head snapped up. "The _Structure Block_ ," she said, eyes widening slightly.

Nurm suddenly made a remark in Villagerese, making every head in the room swivel to look in his direction. "Nurm says there's some writing here," Jack said, as Nurm squinted at the wall of runes. "Old runes. 'The Admin's gifts declaring your path... choose wisely...'" The older man paused, his eyes narrowing slightly, before turning back to the group. "That's all he's got."

"I guess you can only take _one_ ," Jace mumbled, looking from one block to another.

Jesse slowly ascended the last stair, slowly looking from one block to another. Behind her, Vos let out an impressed sort of hum. "What? _Fascinating_ ," he murmured.

"Yeah... but what does it all mean?" Cassie asked, just as thoughtfully.

Jesse went and had a look at the one with the dispensers. Nurm made a thoughtful comment, and Jack, as usual, translated. "Nurm says that one's the 'Tower of the Warrior.'"

"Yeah..." Cassie had a look over the dispensers, before giving a quick nod and smile, adjusting her glasses as though in thought. "Yeah, I bet that could shred a gang of mobs in no time flat!"

Jesse then turned to the other one, and Jack translated as Nurm softly remarked on that one as well. "Says that's 'The Wall of the Builder'."

"That's _pure obsidian_ ," Jace said, going up to the wall meekly and actually rapping on it with his knuckles a bit, "It's going to be pretty damn tough for anything to get through _that_ , that's for sure."

Having gotten the feedback on that, Jesse turned back to the front, facing the two blocks with a thoughtful look.

On one hand, the Tower of the Warrior was _definitely_ handy. Especially as Cassie said, it could probably destroy several mobs if Jesse really needed to cause a distraction, even for a moment. On the other, however... what if she used that Structure Block in a pinch and it hurt civilians? Jesse highly doubted that the wall would be able to tell the difference between a regular human and a dangerous mob.

The Wall of the Builder... it was definitely more able to protect civilians with that design. Not to mention that the only way it could cause harm was if someone smashed their head against the wall. Besides, if all else failed and they still needed to block off the Heckmouth in a different way, a wall that's near impossible to destroy doesn't sound like a bad way to do it.

"The Builder Path," Jesse spoke at last, stepping forward and giving the block a decisive sort of nod, "that sounds like what we need."

After a moment's pause, she gave the lightest shrug. "Well... it's supposed to be a gift, right?" And with that, she carefully, _carefully_ reached out with her uppermost set of arms... and picked it up.

In a flash of light, the Tower of the Warrior and its respective Structure Block vanished, leaving nothing behind in its place as the glow from that side of the pedestal died down.

"Whoa," Jace whispered, and his tail was wagging a little bit.

Jesse slowly looked back to the Wall of the Builder, just for a moment... before turning around, everyone crowding around Jesse to get a better look at the block. Reuben poked it a bit, a fascinated look coming over his face. He'd never seen such designs on a block before, let alone something as weird and mystical as the Structure Block.

The spider hybrid was suddenly, rather forcibly reminded of the Command Block. While that possibly had more uses than just the Structure Block alone, it had had a deliberately utilitarian design, almost like a mechanism or a piece of elaborate machinery. The Structure Block, on the other hand, still held a strange, ethereal-like glow and design, even as she felt a strange humming in her hands- the most delicate type of vibration she could imagine.

Without a word, Jesse began to walk back down the stairs, Reuben tagging along eagerly after her, as Jace wrapped an arm around Petra's shoulder and Cassie let out this soft sigh of relief. Vos quickly sped up to catch up to them, and Nurm made a wondering comment in Villagerese.

Jack nodded at whatever Nurm had just said. "Yeah... I can't believe we got it."

And he let out a relieved sort of chuckle.

Jesse glanced over her shoulder, a look of mingled amusement and irritation on her face. "Now, if only our way _out_ wasn't blocked by all those freaky soldiers." She paused for a moment, glancing over at the doorway, which was glowing with the illumination of several Sea Lanterns, which wasn't too much of a surprise. Surprisingly, though, that area was oddly silent.

"Perhaps..." Vos tentatively suggested as he came to a stop near Jesse, glancing at the doorway, and then at Jesse, "they went away?"

Almost before he'd even finished his statement, a huge _boom_ that made them all stagger to regain their balance (Reuben threw his arms around Jesse's leg) and made tiny pebbles and dust and debris rain down from the ceiling rang out. Petra said, sounding slightly annoyed, "I'm guessing... no."

Jace suddenly perked up, eyes narrowing as his wolf ears started rotating, as if trying to get a better grasp on the sound. "Do you hear that?" he asked, his green eyes narrowing dangerously.

Now that he said that, they could _all_ hear it. Marching footsteps that were in a strange sync... and then the head of the first shoulder rose above the edge of the staircase, the guttural moans of the creatures growing louder and louder as more and more of them flooded into the room, drawing their prismarine weapons.

Jesse moved to hastily put them away, Petra whipping out her gold sword at the ready and Cassie quickly pulling out her axe and ruffling her much-shorter hair as she went at it, before Reuben gasped and pointed. Jesse followed his finger- and then gasped herself, the others all letting out soft sounds of alarm much like the one she'd just made.

Because, oh joy, it looks like a few of them had prismarine _bows and arrows_ , and they were now firing arrows at the group standing on the stairs.

Petra made a worried sort of sound as Jace yanked out his own sword, giving it a slight twirl before catching ahold of it more securely. "There are so many of them...!" she managed, just as an arrow went whistling inches away from her cheek.

Nurm let out an alarmed sound, and Jack glanced at him before immediately drawing his own blade, eyes hardening. "Stay behind me, Nurm!" he shouted, brandishing the blade in the direction of the soldiers.

All of the others hastily rush down the stairs, Jesse taking a second to throw Reuben onto her back, glance back down-

And then dive to her right clumsily, still trying to get Reuben situated, and therefore landing flat on her face, Reuben letting out a little squeak as she slammed into the floor.

Three arrows suddenly shot high into the air, making an arcing path right at Jesse-

" _NOPE!_ " she yelled, and she automatically rolled over, making Reuben let out a little squeal of pain involuntarily but otherwise staying quiet, as the arrows slammed down- _one two three_ \- in the spot where she'd been just seconds previously.

Getting onto all eights, the spider hybrid started scuttling along the path, catching up with Petra and the others quite quickly as they all whipped around a corner of the (now that Jesse thought about it) ridiculously long staircase, the tiny pig hybrid frantically yanking out Jesse's sword as he locked himself into place and very nearly toppling off in the process. Petra, who'd launched herself into the air and was now jet-propelling herself down the way, glanced back at Jesse to check up on her, spun around- and immediately skidded to a halt in midair, and in fact Jesse was forced to skid to a halt herself, at the sight of the army of statues marching up the staircase.

"Worst. Statues. _Ever!_ " Petra shouted, backing away a step, as Cassie came to a halt herself, diving in front of Vos and smashing an arrow that had been speeding right at the poor guy.

As if the world was intent on making the situation even _worse_ , the gauntlet on Jesse's hand abruptly started glowing again, making that mechanical thudding sound as it whirred to life, making Jesse glance down at it- before a muted rumble rang through the room, and she shuffled around to see a hand smashing through the wall above the doorway, but not a regular-sized hand- no, _this_ thing was probably bigger than an Elder Guardian!

"Oh geez. Big hand. _VERY BIG!_ " Jesse shouted, eyes the size of dinner plates as she automatically skittered backwards a few steps.

"Think now might be a good time for that Structure Block!" Jace shouted over the chaos that was now going through the room and diving sideways to avoid getting impaled by something.

Jesse spun on the spot to face her twin, shaking her head slightly. "I- I don't know how it works!"

"Try everything then!" Jack snapped, protectively blocking Nurm, who was curling in on himself in fear.

"Now?! Please?!" Vos shouted pleadingly, as Cassie swung her axe again and just _barely_ managed to deflect an arrow before it hit her, and Petra whirled back around to face the horde of soldiers coming their way.

"Reuben, piggyback!" Jesse shouted to the little kid, who nodded at the shout and hastily sheathed her sword again. The moment she felt him throw his arms around her neck, the spider hybrid whipped back to an upright position, pulling out the Structure Block in a single, fluid motion, as the soldiers got closer... closer-!

"Please work, please work, please-!" Jesse heaved the block into the air, over her head, before slamming it down onto the ground right in front of her. " _-work!_ "

The three soldiers that had been about to reach the three of them (Jesse, Petra, and Reuben, who were initially the closest) were blasted back as a huge wall sprang into being, and Jesse scooped the block back up with this high-pitched, overly relieved laugh. "Ha, ha-ha! Oh man! Cool!" she nearly squeaked in relief, the prismarine soldiers working and slamming their weapons into the wall and making no progress.

Jesse gave everyone there a weak, relieved grin. The whole group had less than three seconds to be relieved, when suddenly the entrance to the room was blasted open (and the wall near it, I should mention that), one of the _huge prismarine statues from the entrance hall_ standing right there, eyes glowing that strange glow that Sea Lanterns and Jesse's gauntlet seemed to glow.

The spider hybrid let out this little incoherent shout at that.

"Hello, Jesse," the statue said, leering down at the spider hybrid.

The only thing that went through Jesse's extremely panicked and totally scrambled head in that moment was-

"It talks?!"

* * *

 **A/N: And I think I'll leave off on this note until next time. :3**

 **So, after updating this, I might go AWOL for at least a week. I've got all of the main and secondary characters of Phantasmagoria's designs completed, and I'm still receiving background characters for the contest! It ends on August 31 at 12:01. I _will_ most likely include everyone's characters, since I didn't receive as many as I needed, but only 10 will have speaking lines in the final comic. The final decisions for these background characters will be made via a small panel of 'judges'- about three or four of my friends.**

 **Going back to why I might go AWOL, I've got 22 designs to complete and draw for reference, and I'll try to knock all that out as soon as possible. It should also be noted that I _will_ post the final character designs, but some may not be as extensive as others due to me not wishing to spoil the comic. In total, by the time the comic designs are all completed, I will have almost 50 designs and at LEAST 37 speaking roles for the comic dub. (Yes, I will initially be making a comic dub before making the animated version, if I do indeed decide to make the animated version. I'll post that project when I'm into the actual drawing phase, which still might not be for... another 6 months, at least. I work fast.)**

 **Also, updates WILL get significantly slower, since I am going into my junior year of high school, AKA the busiest year. So, updates might be slow, but don't worry! I will do my best to get chapters out at least once a week! (And knowing me when I say that, I'll still be updating every two days or so...)**

 **If you read HCM, you probably already read that, but if you don't, here you go anyway!**

 **Fun fact: I almost didn't play Minecraft: Story Mode because it was more Minecraft related. I don't like Minecraft very much.**

 **Here are the hints for the code:**

 **1: The numbers correspond to letters.**

 **2: The numbers that correspond to letters don't correspond to the letter of the alphabet that it would usually correspond to.**

 **3: The numbers that correspond to letters are based on appearance, not letters of the alphabet.**

 **4: Gregor the Overlander and the Code of Claw**

 **5: Double shift**

 **6: G R C F**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **LunarTheMooncake: (laughs) He's still offended. There's actually a slight reason he's holding the grudge much longer than he actually would, though.**

 **EmLee: It's not actually a phone service, no, and if it did exist of course you could. xD**

 **CamronXTheXGamer: (laughs) Yeah, it wasn't the smoothest move on his part.**

 **chocolate lilac: Aw, thank you! I'm glad you like it so much. And I'm so glad you like my stories, since some of the older ones are kind of crap.**

 **TheRealRedGaming: Please don't post this next time.**

 **Emily The Avenger: (laughs)**

 **Boggie445: No xD / Noted.**

 **Rabbits rule: Lol I don't know.**

 **ShiningHopeBeast: Pffft yeah, pretty accurate. / (grins) I am not going to say anything~ / Oh, was I really? xD / Yeah, it actually had an external meaning. / (laughs) Yes. Also, Stirpicus pretty much confirmed that he said it just to mess with Jesse. / Yeah. But Pizzazz is good!**

 **AquaK13: YAY! / Yep. x3 / Actually, there is a reason he's holding a grudge against Vos about it much longer than he actually would. / Well, I sort of reveal myself. xD / Hehehe / Yeah, but it will still be in Blaze Rod form- if she loses a leg, it just ends up in Blaze Rod form, like her left arm. Still. Pretty helpful skill xD / Hehehehehehe, that's cute. x3**

 **TheAmberShadow: He did, actually. / (laughs) / (rereads) Nope, the duck sentence is grammatically correct. / Hello!**

 **Toni42: Yeah, it was a pretty jerk move to pull on the Admin's part.**

 **InsaneAcrobat: (laughs) Hm, maybe. / ? Not sure what you mean by that? / Ahhh, it's fine. And no problem, I'm glad I did!**

 **Infernius Flashfire: (laughs) / Help is above!**

 **homeworkoverload: No problem! / No, considering I ship Stella and Jesse a little bit... / Hahahaha, yeah, I kinda love that line but hate it at the same time. xD / Oh god, yeah. / Yeah, sure!**

 **MissyMattingly: You should probably be used to it by now, haha xD**

 **Welp, that's all for this time and possibly another week. See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	19. Oh, YOU'RE the Admin

"Here they come!" Vos shouted, panic rising into his voice, as several of the prismarine soldier-warriors clambered _onto the staircase_ from the sides, a few of them even squeezing through the narrow area between the wall and the staircase, before turning to stare in their direction and drawing their prismarine axes. They seemed to _really_ be intent on killing Jesse and the rest of the group. Yay!

Oh, and they were also at least twice Jesse's size. Seriously. Sometimes she hated how short she was.

"Come on!" Jack shouted, glaring at the statues, "I'll show you what we did to our enemies in Pur'gan-gah!"

His expression changed to more of a concerned one as he glanced back at Nurm, who appeared to be shaking in his shoes. The villager was just aware enough of Jack that he let out this incoherent sound that might've been a 'uh-huh'.

"Get ready, you guys!" Jace snarled, holding out his sword defensively next to where Petra was starting to spit out sparks, Blaze Rods piecing together in midair. Reuben had gotten off of Jesse, although he was still mostly behind the spider hybrid, and Cassie had her axe out, as per usual, standing mostly in front of Vos since he apparently didn't have any weapons on him.

Jesse drew her sword, glaring up at the statues as they slowly approached. "Think you're all cool 'cause of how tall you are, huh?" she asked, as Nurm and Jack gaped up silently at the statues in dismay behind her, "proud of how tall you are?"

Vos and Jack let out loud twin shrieks and ran over to where Jack was standing, Cassie glancing over at them before shifting her stance so she was more in front of Reuben now.

The huge prismarine statue approached the spider hybrid, Jesse being dimly aware of the others engaging with one of their own, but focusing mainly on this one. Charging forward, she waited until it raised its axe into the air-

And then dove to her right, dodging out of the way just as it swung the axe down, smashing into the floor with immense force. Taking opportunity of its slow recovery, she slashed at it, slamming the enchanted diamond blade into the statue with several somewhat satisfying clangs. This time, the statue raised its foot, and Jesse dove to the left-

A shockwave blasted her back, and she rolled back a few feet and let out a yelp of pain and, honestly, slight surprise- she had _not_ been expecting that.

The statue turned to slash at her with the axe again, and she once again dove to the right, the axe swishing through the spot where she'd been standing and slamming into the floor again, Jesse managing to get in a single hit before it raised its foot again-

The spider hybrid leaped into the air this time, landing on the statue's knee for an instant, before somehow managing to launch herself into the air and flip right over its head. Realizing she'd just slam into her back if she continued this way, she hastily twisted around and let her hands and feet slam into the back of the statue, the force of her landing knocking it forward.

Now that she was on the thing's back, momentarily shocked into just kneeling there, she noticed a strange, glowing design on the back of the statue's head, glowing the same shade of green-blue that the gauntlet and the prismarine statue's eyes did.

So instinctively, she stabbed the sword straight into the design.

There was a strange rumble, Reuben letting out an excited shout at the sight of it, and Jesse watched the glow from the statue's eyes- and the design on the back of the head, of course- die, before it collapsed forward and puffed into smoke before hitting the floor, Jesse landing neatly on her feet just in front of Cassie and Reuben. "Ha! In your face!"

Cassie pumped her fist in the air and made an incoherent noise like "Wooph! Wooph! Wooph!" while Reuben applauded cheerfully.

"Metaphorically," Jesse added, glancing down at where the statue had been a moment previously.

There was suddenly yet _another_ loud crashing sound, and Jesse looked over just in time to see a huge wave of water splash into the room along with the giant prismarine colossus that had stormed into the room earlier, leaning down to stare _right at Jesse_.

"Why, hello!"

"Uhhh..." Jesse petered out a bit, acutely aware of how Petra was sending sparks flitting everywhere, and Jace's tail was starting to tuck between its legs, and Cassie had casually sidled to stand _just_ behind Jesse, and Reuben was clinging to Jesse's leg again. "Hi."

"Die, now," the colossus said, raising its hand, before bringing it down right at Jesse.

The spider hybrid managed to dive to her right, _just_ in the nick of time, as the hand smashed through the area where that part of the staircase had been and sent it plummeting into the huge pool of water that had flooded into the temple.

Jesse clambered back to her feet, aware that Jace, Petra, Reuben, and Cassie were on the other side of the small chasm now and that Vos was trembling in his shoes right behind her. "Whoa, too close!" she huffed, trying to drag air into her lungs.

"Stand _still!_ " the colossus snapped, as if irritated, bringing its hand down at her and the others again-

" _Gaaah!_ " and Jesse lunged to her left this time, just _barely_ avoiding it before it could squash her like a bug. The colossus raised its hand, checking the underside as if expecting to find something stuck to it, before turning to stare at Jesse again. Seriously, what was it that made this giant thing so obsessed with her?

If it was the glove, Jesse was seriously going to find some way to smash it later.

"Hmmm," the colossus spoke this time, sounding more interested- almost slightly _admiring_ , actually. "Well dodged!"

And it raised its hand again.

"My sword!"

Jesse's head snapped to where Petra was dangling off of a small ledge, her sword resting _just_ out of reach on a ledge very close to her free hand. "I can... agggh, I can almost reach it!" Petra shouted, stretching her arm for it. "It's so close!"

Jesse suddenly felt her heart kick into overtime as she scanned the landscape. Where was Jace, Cassie, and Reuben-?

"Petra!"

Jesse blinked at the sound, even as the colossus turned its attention to Petra, before quickly moving forward and peering over the edge of the chasm. There, floating safely in the water (though dodging the falling bits of stone and rubble), were the other three. They must've fallen in when the Admin had smashed in that part of the staircase.

Oh. Well. At least they were safe.

Jesse moved to go help Petra- before she heard the clang of weapon on weapon and she whirled on the spot to see Jack blocking each crushing blow the prismarine statue was delivering with its prismarine axe, Vos and Nurm huddled behind him in fear. "Don't worry!" Jack shouted to Jesse, who was frozen in place in shock, "I've got it!" He grunted as the axe skidded off of his blade once again, sending up a spray of white-hot sparks. "Mostly!"

The spider hybrid was completely paralyzed with indecision.

...

Well, Jack _did_ say he had it...

Then again, Jack, Vos, _and_ Nurm were in danger, whereas only Petra was in danger of losing her sword...

But then...

...

Jesse made her choice.

The spider hybrid whipped around and dropped to all eights, skittering forward rapidly before leaping off of the ledge of her little island of land between the two other spots, covering a good amount of ground in less than a minute.

Landing _just_ in front of Petra, she grabbed her arm and heaved the redhead back to safety, Petra grabbing up her sword in a single, smooth movement and landing back on the ground solidly. The two girls barely had time to exchange grins with one another, before the sound of rushing wind hit their ears, and they looked up to see the Admin bringing both of his hands into the air-

"Jump!" Jesse shouted.

The two girls leaped straight off of the side of the staircase just as the Admin's crushing blows smashed into the spot where they'd been standing, Petra changing the jump into a smooth glide at the last second while Jesse just splashed down and dodged out of the way of the axes being waved about underwater, surfacing right next to Reuben.

(Who paddled over and made one of his usual cute little piggy squeals in delight as he hugged her.)

Petra hit the water a second later, sending up a huge cloud of steam as the Blaze Rods vanished around her (and yelping as she was almost knocked underwater entirely by Jace, who looked _supremely_ relieved about her being alright). For a few seconds, all view was obscured by the thick fog of steam that Petra and the water was forming, but it cleared up enough for Jesse to spot the others again a moment later.

"Whoa, that-" Cassie stroked over, a huge grin plastered on her face despite the breathless quality in her voice and the way her glasses had fogged over from the giant steam cloud just now, "that looked like a close call!"

"Bit too close, but yeah," Jesse managed, grinning weakly at her.

They heard a loud shout from Nurm, and the entire group spun in the water (sending out little waves of water) to see Nurm and Vos leaping off of the staircase into the water, Jack dodging to his left as the prismarine axe from the soldier came thudding down-

Jesse suddenly felt the phone in her pocket buzz almost warningly. Apparently it was waterproof.

The axe swung back up in a sudden move and... well, Jesse couldn't be certain, since they were a good distance away, not to mention a good deal lower than the others. But (and she felt an icy hand tighten around her abdominal region) it looked like the axe had slammed straight into Jack's face.

Jack let out a pained yell as he flew backwards into the water, Nurm and Vos hastily resurfacing in the water from where they'd leaped in. "Jack!" Vos shouted, looking at where Jack had just splashed down and sent a massive wave everywhere.

Jesse repressed a _huge_ sigh of relief- and then froze as Jack floundered back to the surface, his left eye- the bad one- swollen shut. It looked a bit like it was going to blacken, but what really sent that chill up Jesse's spine was the fact that there was blood dripping down from his eye, a bleeding gash carved into Jack's face and straight through that eye.

Even if they got out of here alive, no healing potion was going to be able to fix that.

"I'm... _ungh..._ " Jack gritted his teeth as he managed to regain the use of his limbs, bobbing around slightly in the water but no longer flailing around to get to the surface again. "I'm okay... mostly."

"Oh _no_ ," Jesse whispered from where she was floating in the water, Reuben letting out a worried whine from where he was bobbing around. Cassie couldn't help letting out a gasp, Jace's ears had drooped in worry, and Petra... Petra looked as though _she'd_ been the one to get hit by that prismarine soldier-statue.

"Jack, I'm... I'm so sorry!"

"It's- _ow!_ " and Jack's body tensed up, before he continued, in his usual tone but sounding much more _forced_ than usual, "it's alright." He lifted his head a bit and gestured at that side of his face (Jesse's stomach clenched in guilt). "Got my bad eye. _Ack_..."

There was a low thud, and they all looked up from where they were bobbing around in the water to see the huge colossus lifting its hand, presumably to try to squish them again, glaring down at them. "Nowhere to run," it boomed... before slamming its fist down into the water with about ten tons of force.

 _Narrowly_ missing pulverizing Jesse, who'd dove down _just_ deep down enough to avoid being hit in the face with a giant stone hand. (A few yards away Jesse could see the group frantically swimming away from it, rather than just straight down as Jesse had.) On a whim, she grabbed ahold of the hand with her uppermost set of arms, and was about to scramble up onto it when the hand suddenly pulled back out of the water, sending Jesse soaring into the air after it.

The colossus tilted its head down to stare at its right hand, which just so happened to be the one Jesse was dangling from and clinging on for her life. "You _are_ resilient," it rumbled to her, "though sadly," and now it was moving its entire body as if preparing to punch something, "still _mortal!_ " And it lashed out in a forceful _punch_ into one of the walls with runes on it.

Jesse's lower arms slammed into the hand from the rush of movement, and the spider was just _barely_ able to skitter off of the fist _just_ in time as the fist slammed with full-force into the wall, the impact just _barely_ clipping her hair as she dodged out of the way in the nick of time. As the colossus withdrew its hand to look at it again, Jesse was panting a little faster than she usually would, heart thudding away in her ribcage and sending a roar of blood through her ears.

"Touched my hair that time," she muttered under her breath- not because she particularly _cared_ about her hair. More like because she just needed to say _something_ to make sure that the explosion of force directed at the wall hadn't blasted out her eardrums or something.

Thankfully, it hadn't, so that was something to be grateful for, little as it was.

This time, the colossus didn't even preface the attempt to squash Jesse as flat as a bug (seriously, if you're going to try to kill someone more than once change it up a little, would you?) and simply sent its fist straight at the ceiling. The spider hybrid scrambled back down to its arm hastily as the fist sent dust, dirt, and some rocks skittering down from the ceiling. " _Ha!_ Didn't work that time either!" she cheered in slight relief as the colossus lowered its arm to look at her again.

This time, it just chuckled a bit. Why was it-?

Oh, wait.

Jesse hastily let her arms release from the colossus, right as it raised its fist to slam into the ceiling _again_ , and went plummeting straight down- back into the water, which felt like a small slap to the face.

It took a moment for her to recover from the impact, but she rapidly recovered and resurfaced, gasping in a quick breath of air and blinking water out of her eyes. Hastily, she scanned the room for her friends (who, for some reason that was making anxiety swell up like a balloon in her chest, she couldn't spot at the moment) as the colossus said, sounding mock-concerned, "Oh dear! Is there a _leak_ in here?"

And he let out this low, rumbling evil laugh that resonated throughout the entire chamber, the sound of several metric tons of water beginning to flood into the temple with a low-volume but steadily rising roar.

"I placed _every block_ you've ever stood on," the colossus roared, turning around to leer down at Jesse with that almost expressionless stone face, "and I promise, I will place the blocks that _cover your grave._ "

Perhaps this should've frightened Jesse, and in fact the words were plenty ominous, but the only thing she could think to say was-

"Oh, so you're the _Admin_."

* * *

 **A/N: Haha, that was my reaction when the colossus said that.**

 **"Oh. So you're the Admin..."**

 **Fun fact: Petra has tried smoking one time but ended up just emitting clouds of smoke for the literal rest of the day.**

 **Gah, the school wifi is so bad.**

 **Still have no answers to the code? Seriously? Wow I didn't expect it would be THAT hard for y'all to decode.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **homework overload: Honestly, I just knew what mods were. I didn't know any, so it didn't bother me at all. / (laughs) Actually, it's not TOTALLY one-sided. Stella admires the Admin's power, and the Admin likes her attitude. xD / Well, honestly, I was like 'Well, I have no idea what Vos was like before the whole Sea Temple thing happened.' So I didn't really have an opinion on him.**

 **LunarTheMooncake: You should probably just expect this sort of thing by now, tbh xD / Haha, I don't think he will.**

 **TheAmberShadow: I theorize that it just popped out of existence, like when the Admin decides Jesse isn't worthy. / (laughs) / A book. If you must, just go to the Wikipedia page.**

 **KrazyKat: No, not at all.**

 **Guest: Hello Red. Bonjour.**

 **Rabbits rule: (laughs) / Maybe 'cause I updated? I dunno, I've got no clue as to what Aboun likes xD**

 **AquaK13: Hehehehe x3 / Hmm. I've never played Legend of Zelda, so... I really wouldn't know, to be quite honest. xD / Ahahahaha, perhaps. That would certainly be an interesting way of doing it. / No, it's just that Jesse's brain isn't processing the weirdness. / Hahaha, very true. And he's someone else's son... I think we all just collectively adopted Radar. xD**

 **Infernius Flashfire: Alrighty then xD / Maybe, maybe not. / Ahh, I see. xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	20. You've Got My Attention Now

Jesse glanced over at the others, who'd thankfully managed to swim away from this giant Admin, and Jack raised his arm out of the water to point at the flood of water pouring through the ceiling, rapidly filling the room with more and more water. "The waterfalls!" he shouted. Jesse twisted her head to look at it herself, brow furrowing- before it cleared.

If water could get _in_ to the temple this way...

Then maybe _they_ could get _out._

"Go! Go! I'm right behind you!" Jesse shouted to them, looking over at them so fast that a mass of wet hair came flying around and slapped her in the face. Jace's ears perked up, and he gave his sister a firm nod before the entire group began to swim towards the massive thing of water crashing into the room, filling it with so much water that Jesse was starting to rise to the level of where the Structure Block had been previously.

"Are you?" The Admin _boomed_ behind her, the spider hybrid hastily leaning forward and beginning to use her extra limbs to propel her through the water rapidly, "Really?"

"Yes, hopefully," Jesse mumbled, "otherwise I think I will be dead."

"What a dangerous world, Jesse," the Admin continued, either choosing to ignore Jesse or just not having heard her, in his voice that was making the temple itself rumble dangerously, the entire thing shaking down little bits of debris that made her passage forward just the tiniest bit more irksome. "You are so tiny, and there is so much distance to cover. Also... you know... _me_."

Jesse took exactly half a second to ponder the fact that the Admin, who was apparently older than the world or whatever, knew modern-day expressions like 'you know'.

The Admin let out a wicked laugh as he raised his hand again, and Jesse let out a little gasp as she glanced over her shoulder- and dove down beneath the water, his hand _barely_ grazing her hair as she plunged deeper into the water. " _Woah!_ " she yelled, before swooping up and into the waterfall, once again very thankful for her multitude of extra limbs.

She sensed rather than saw the Admin drawing back, and glanced down just in time to see his fist plunge straight into the waterfall right below her, narrowly missing her as she used her upper arms to yank out that helmet and pull it onto her head. What with the downward flow of water she was swimming against it wasn't hard, and that tight feeling that had started forming in her lungs disappeared quickly.

The Admin's hand lunged out again, _very narrowly_ missing her leg as she swam up through the hole in the ceiling of the Sea Temple, catching up to where Petra was propelling herself through the water and where Reuben was piggy-paddling (she smiled despite herself at the name they'd given his way of swimming) upwards as fast as possible.

Jesse let out a relieved sigh at not being dead. Cassie glanced over her shoulder upon hearing the sigh. "Ha!" she shouted down to the Admin, automatically reaching up to adjust her glasses (and then blinking when her hand bumped into the leather covering instead), "how's it feel to be as bad at your job as those Guardians you set for us, ya dumb pile o' rocks?!"

" _Why_ are you antagonizing it? _Don't_ antagonize it! We don't _want_ to antagonize it!" Jesse complained to Cassie in return.

"Aw, c'mon, Jesse, it's not like he can do anything about it."

And Cassie poked her tongue out at him one last time before rejoining the rest of the group in swimming towards the surface, the echoing vibrations of the Admin shouting through the water to the spider hybrid ringing in their ears. A single word that made Jesse redouble in her efforts to swim up, harder, and faster.

" _JESSE...!_ "

* * *

Jesse experimentally tapped the ground.

It looked like the grass had had enough time to grow over it, but here looked like a pretty decent spot to dig. So, reaching down, she punched through the dirt block, making sure to take extra caution to use the hand with the _gauntlet_ still on it to smash through the block altogether, breaking straight through to where the Heckmouth was, undoubtedly still spitting out creepers.

Leaping down, she was quickly followed by Jace, Cassie, Petra, Vos, and Jack. (Nurm and Reuben stayed back- Reuben still had some trouble fighting _normal_ creepers, let alone charged ones.)

The Heckmouth _was_ still raging full force, and it _was_ still spitting out creepers. Jesse scanned the cavern, before hastily pointing. "There! That's where the Structure Block goes!" she called out, the indent in the floor seeming to have its own, faintly eerie glow.

Jesse was the first to land, Petra landing a moment later. "Slam it down, Jesse!" she shouted to the spider hybrid, whipping out Miss Butter and smashing it into a creeper almost immediately. "We'll keep the creepers off your back!"

Jesse nodded, pulling out the block, before turning around and running forward, being careful not to trip and drop the block (that would've been _really_ bad), hopping over one bit of land as a creeper charged towards her-

Jack sailed in from the side and slammed it straight into a pool of lava right next to it, the creeper dying as it hit the molten liquid. (Jesse was still really unsure if lava counted as a liquid, to be quite honest. It's not like you could drink it.) She watched him charge forward, giving her a quick glance, and she continued rushing forward, hopping over a small bit of lava-

Cassie's axe spun head over handle and embedded itself into a creeper that got too close to Jesse, the redhead landing next to it a moment later and yanking it out before it could topple into the lava along with the unfortunate creeper she'd just murdered. Giving Jesse a grin and a salute, she charged back at a different creeper that Jace was handling, the wolf hybrid glancing at her before actually grabbing ahold of the creeper he'd been facing off with and throwing it in Petra and Cassie's direction.

Jesse realized she'd actually stopped running to watch and scolded herself, rounding the corner hastily as Vos jumped down from a ledge and impaled a creeper, throwing it into a nearby lava pool to avoid being killed, before charging forward at another mess of creepers, following Jack. Jesse pulled a sharp turn and ran for the indent, a creeper beginning to cross her path-

Jace fixed that by stabbing it with his sword and throwing it to Petra, who twirled Miss Butter casually and killed the creature in a single blow, as per usual. Jesse gave her friend a grateful nod and ran straight to the indent in the ground, the pattern glowing slightly from where she'd stopped right in front of it, the Heckmouth mere yards away from where she was standing.

"Reaaaally hope this works," Jesse mumbled, before heaving the block into the air and slamming it into place.

Immediately, a high-pitched _ping_ ing sound rang out, a pillar of green light shooting into the air and a small shockwave of green energy spreading out from where she'd slammed it down. The spider hybrid backed away a few steps-

Suddenly, blocks of the prismarine shot out in the Heckmouth, the walls of the Builder flashing and glowing as they sprang into being in a series of thuds and little high-pitched ringing noises, the creepers exploding as they slammed into the walls, before the last bit of the Heckmouth, glowing that eerie green-blue color, was finally blocked from sight.

Jesse glanced over her shoulder, ready to yank out her sword to help- and was relieved to see Jack slam a couple of creepers straight into a pool of lava, Vos shoving some of his own creepers into the pool of lava. Jace kicked one creeper away, Cassie twirled her axe and slammed it sideways, and Petra completed the process by taking ahold of Miss Butter like a baseball bat and swinging it wildly, smacking into the creeper and sending it flying straight into the air-

Where it promptly exploded, the force of the explosion simply making Jesse's hair blow around for a moment, briefly.

After a moment of pure silence, Petra slowly slid Miss Butter back into the sheathe on her back, making Jack look around. "Is everyone okay?" he asked, sounding a little tired.

"Looks all clear," Vos volunteered a minute later, Jace shooting him a sideways glance.

Cassie looked around, then at Petra (who shrugged), and then said, tentatively, as if worried that she'd jinx it the minute she said so, "Yeah, I think so."

Jesse slowly let her shoulders relax when nothing happened... nothing happened... before abruptly letting out a loud sigh of relief. "Yeah, looks like," she sighed a bit, reaching up and rubbing her head before letting out a little chuckle... and then she suddenly _whooped_ , throwing her hands into the air. " _Yes_ we did it!" she cheered.

"Yeah, whaddaya know, Jesse," and Petra reached out, goodheartedly thumping Jesse on the back, "you really did it!"

"Good job, sis," and Jace butted his head into Jesse's hand. Rolling her eyes goodheartedly, she allowed herself to indulge in a small victory-petting. Surely that wouldn't jinx it, right?

Jack took a slightly shaky breath in, looking down at the spot where the Heckmouth had been, which was now completely blocked off. None of that weird green light or whatnot. "Think that's really the end of it?"

"Oh... certainly looks that way to me," Vos said, staring down at it as well, with a rather thoughtful look on his face.

Cassie nodded absentmindedly, brushing her fingers through her slightly-shorter new haircut. "Hopefully that IS the end of it."

"Then c'mon!" Turning around from the spot, Jesse leaned down and carefully picked the Structure Block back out of the floor, which made a little _pop_ ping sound as it sprang back into her hands, "let's go home, you guys."

From there, it was a bit of a blur and, well, honestly surprisingly easy. They just climbed back up (Cassie opting to ride on Jesse's back, while Vos and Jace rode back up with Petra (who, it must be noted, had gotten much better at carrying people and flying at the same time) and Jack carefully settled himself onto Jesse's back as well), joined back up with Reuben and Nurm (both of whom looked very pleased to see them all in one piece) and trotted back towards Beacontown, the doors sliding open upon their re-arrival.

Vos made a startled sound, looking around. "Oh! Heh heh... this is more people than I've seen in a long time!" he exclaimed, looking about himself so vigorously Jesse secretly worried he was going to crack his neck or something, at the people who turned to grin and wave at Jesse as she walked through the gates.

"Hey everyone!" Jesse said cheerfully, giving a little wave with her gauntlet-clad hand, "Happy Founding Day!"

Stacy and Stampy moved away from where they'd been chatting in front of their house to join back up with Jesse, Dan quickly jogging over upon spotting them, and- Jesse's grin grew a little at this- Lizzie was approaching as well, looking more than a little happy to see them.

"Hey guys! Hey Lizzie!" Jesse waved at Lizzie cheerfully.

"Hey Jesse! You guys are back!" Lizzie said, grinning at them openly (although the smile dimmed noticeably when she spotted Cassie in the background).

"And you're here, too," Jesse noted, raising her eyebrow and giving Lizzie a friendly grin. "Definitely an addition to Beacontown, you weren't here before I left."

The pink-haired girl shrugged, keeping her eyes fixed on Jesse and determinedly not looking anywhere in Cassie's direction. "Yeah, I was off visiting Joey at the Cat Cafe. He says the cats have been doing _fantastic_ ," Lizzie agreed, cheerfully. "This town of yours is really quite nice, Jesse! I like it so far. Might even decide to stay here permanently, like Dan's been thinking about."

"Well, _technically_ Dan's been staying with Stampy," Stacy cleared her throat, giving Stampy a grin.

Both Dan and Stampy turned a little pink at that. Dan's hair turned a nice mix of brown and fuchsia.

"In the Parrot Party Room," Stampy scolded her, "don't think naughty, Stacy." A moment passed before he turned back to Jesse, grinning cheerfully. "Haha! Welcome back!"

Stacy nodded, clapping her hands together rather eagerly. "We were worried you'd miss it!"

A blur of green darted between Stacy, Stampy, Dan, and Lizzie (who all staggered a bit, caught off-guard) and _tackled_ Jesse in a tight hug, making Jesse glad that her armor was so durable. "You're _back!_ " Radar cheered, arms around Jesse tightly, "thank _goodness_." He backed away a few steps. "This has... _whoooo_ , this has been a lot of work." And indeed, the 16-year-old looked a good deal more frazzled than when Jesse had left. "People all needs things approved, or- or help with building... Or wrangling animals..."

Jesse shook her head approvingly, clapping her hand onto his shoulder in what she _hoped_ was a reassuring way. "Well, it might've been a lot of work... but it was _totally_ worth it. The place looks great!" she told him, cheerfully.

Radar perked up at that (Reuben beamed cheerfully at the sight of that). "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Jesse nodded approvingly, reaching out and patting him on the shoulder. "You did a great job, Radar!"

The boy clapped his hands together, practically _glowing_ at the praise. "Wow...! Thanks!"

After a moment's pause, he tilted his head at her. "So, did you find what you were searching for?" he asked, curiously.

At that, Jesse just grinned a little bit.

* * *

Since everyone was currently already out and about, it wasn't hard to get everyone into a little crowd (although she yanked everyone who had come with her onto the stage, because there was no way she was just going to be standing by herself there; although she _did_ notice that Vos had disappeared off to somewhere) and show them all the Structure Block, lifting it above her head and allowing the entire crowd to see it. The minute she pulled it out, the crowd went _wild_.

(And her cheeks went a lovely shade of red, proving that yes, Jesse _did_ look quite good in red.)

"It's just like I'm always telling people," she called, raising her voice so that the entire crowd could hear her, before glancing over her shoulder at her friends, who all grinned at her in return, "teamwork makes the dream work!"

Jace literally wolf-whistled loudly, Reuben jumping around like a little Mexican jumping bean. Cassie flailed her arms around in celebration with Winslow back on her shoulder. Jack pumped his fists, Petra throwing her arms into the air victoriously. Jack was sporting a new eyepatch that he'd kept stored in his shop- apparently a souvenir from the One-Eyed Warriors of Op' Ti Cal or somewhere. "Thanks to all my friends," Jesse continued, lowering the Structure Block again, "we brought this _amazing_ new treasure back. There's nothing we can't do together! Happy Founding Day, everyone!"

The cheers continued. Jesse grinned, still a little pink in the face, before raising the Structure Block above her head, in a sort of warning. Everyone quickly backed away (and Jesse made sure to glance around and check) before slamming the block down, the Wall of the Builder springing to life not five feet from where she'd placed the block down.

A moment of awed, almost _respectful_ silence from her little audience.

And then they all started cheering again, Jesse giving a little grin again and rubbing her head sheepishly. You'd think a person would get used to this after seven years but for some reason Jesse didn't. Maybe it was just because of her tendencies as a spider, which were more something along the lines of "I want quiet places and no people".

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Jack and Petra giving each other grins behind her, before Jack carefully moved through the crowd and Petra followed. Nurm also went after the two and followed them through the crowd. Jace spotted them a moment later and hastily followed himself, and Cassie glanced at Jesse, their eyes meeting, before the entire remaining group hopped down from the stage and jogged after them.

"Not bad... I think they really liked it!" Jesse said cheerfully, the four of them- Nurm, Jack, Jace, and Petra- turning to see Jesse, Cassie (and Winslow), and Reuben all following a little ways behind them.

Nurm grinned with a nod, and Petra nodded a bit herself. "Yeah, they did!" she said, letting out a soft laugh, "guess you've still really got it."

There was a tone in Petra's voice that was almost wistful, but before Jesse could pinpoint it, Jack came into the conversation himself. "Yeah! Other than having half the number of eyes I had when we left... I'd call that a rousing success."

If there was anything about the adventure that you could just state and make Jesse's spirits plummet, it was that.

"Jack, I'm _so_ sorry," Jesse apologized, a note of sincere apology creeping into her voice as she shook her head at the older man. "I was _really_ sure you had it back there. If I'd been able to save both you _and_ Petra in time I definitely would have done so."

"Oh- nah, kid, I don't blame ya," Jack said hastily, waving his hands and shaking his head a little bit, his not-bad eye widening a bit. "I thought so too. Just as frustrated with myself." And he let out a soft, frustrated huff.

"Oh Jack!" Vos sing-songed as he walked over, Jesse and Cassie immediately scooting aside to allow him access (Reuben just turned away from the older man with a huff, once again). "I- uh- oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt! I was just coming to get Jack," he apologized, meekly.

"No, no, you're fine, friend," Jack said reassuringly, before glancing over to Jesse and giving her a smile that... honestly... kind of made Jesse's heart melt a little bit. It was nice to see him so _happy_. "Vos and I are heading to the shop to start planning our next expedition."

Jesse grinned widely at that. "That's great, Jack!" she said, cheerfully, "I definitely hope you guys have fun."

Jack grinned back, and began to move off into Bad Lucky Alley- before pausing, glancing back at Petra, the three of them all pausing to glance back at the redhead. "You comin', Petra?" Jack asked the redhead.

Petra paused, glancing back at Jesse, who gave her a friendly go-ahead nod...

Before turning back to Jack, giving him a light shrug. "In a little bit," she said lightly, slinging an arm around Jace (who perked up instantly), "I'm still hanging with Jesse for now."

Jesse could just feel her eyes light up at that.

It was nice to just... hang out with her old friend for once. No adventures. No running around looking for Structure Blocks or llamas. Just the whole group... hanging out.

Fireworks started going off behind the Order Hall, making Jesse turn around and put her hands on her hips, smiling widely as she stood next to her friends, one of her lower arms wrapped loosely around Reuben's shoulders.

She maintained that almost nostalgic smile for a few seconds... before it fell into a more thoughtful look, and she lifted the gauntlet and twisted it around to get a better look at it. "Still don't know what I'm going to do about _you_ , though," she mumbled, thoughtfully.

And then it started glowing again, making her eyes widen.

" _Jesseeee..._ "

An earth-shaking _thud_ that made Jesse turn around in its direction, eyebrows contracting a bit in worry. "What's that?"

The phone in her pocket buzzed again, and Jesse reached into her pocket without looking down, fumbling the phone a moment. She noticed Petra was reaching into her pocket as well, as well as Jace and Cassie.

The only notification she'd gotten was a single message, from Ariza as per usual.

 _Ariza: Be careful._

"Whoa! You dudes heard that too, right?" Nell asked before Jesse could wonder what the heck _that_ meant, looking around nervously. She hadn't even finished her statement when _another_ earth-shaking thud made, well, the earth shake, making Reuben tighten his grip around Jesse's leg.

"Yes, _terrifying!_ " Stampy squeaked, Dan stepping back nervously and gripping Stampy's shoulder as the earth shook again, nearly knocking the orange-hoodie-wearing boy over.

"Yeah... what was it?" Stacy asked, voice rising an octave in worry.

Jesse didn't waste a second- she scooped Reuben up (the pig hybrid yelping in surprise) and unceremoniously plopped him on the ground next to him, racing towards the direction of the sound. Jace was right behind her, and Petra was right behind _him,_ the now-rhythmic shaking and thudding of the earth becoming almost incessant.

Jesse didn't even need to _see_ him to know who it was.

"Oh _no_..."

"JESSE!" the Admin boomed, footfalls heavy and VERY loud as he approached the corner of the wall nearest to where the mine was, his head already starting to show over the wall.

Jace let out a loud gasping sound, and Jesse muttered a soft swear as the Admin continued, in that big booming voice, "YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD JUST RUN AWAY FROM THE ADMIN?"

Jesse shot Cassie a pointed glare.

Cassie proceeded to mutter a fifty-word-long string of swears under her breath, and none of them even bothered to reprimand her for it.

The Admin let out a dark chuckle, leaning forward and using the wall to brace his hands as he let out a dark chuckle, staring down at Jesse with those unblinking great green eyes, making the knot in Jesse's stomach twist into an even more painful type of knot.

"YOU'VE REALLY GOT MY ATTENTION _NOW_."

* * *

 _Jesse glanced over at Lukas, aware that dozens of people in white lab-coats were staring at the five of them as she arched her eyebrow. "Would you care to explain, Lukas?" she asked, pleasantly, although he could still hear the sound of sheer irritation dancing in her voice._

 _"Oh, my pleasure," he replied, just as pleasantly, before turning to glare at the scientists all staring at the five with the look of a child who has been caught with their hand in a cookie jar._

 _"We're shutting down this lab permanently. Unless you want to be arrested, I suggest you all leave_ now _."_

 _One scientist had the nerve to step forward. "We made you five! We know how to stop you!" he shouted, glaring at the five._

 _He'd barely finished the statement when Olivia was standing right in front of him, having teleported fifty feet in less than a second, her hand tight on his shoulder as she glared into his eyes. "I think you'll find we've changed since our days in the Bureau of Amalgamology, thanks."_

Lukas paused, frowning as his brow furrowed a little bit, trying to remember exactly _what_ had happened after that. He remembered the basic events, but there were some details that he'd sort of forgotten. His tail flicked around thoughtfully. His ears twitched.

Next to him, Dewey- the ocelot he'd sort of 'tamed' by talking to and leaving fish out for every day until it had started hanging around- let out a low purr as he stared off into the sunset, Lukas's horse peeking at the book as if trying to read it. (Of course, that wasn't the case, seeing as horses couldn't _read_. Smart as Reuben was, Lukas honestly doubted that the kid had been able to _read_ when he was still a pig, and that applied to this horse.)

Suddenly, a loud _thud_ rang out, Dewey jumping in alarm and the horse letting out an alarmed whinny as Lukas's arm jerked, dropping the quill. Hastily clapping the book shut, he quickly rang to the side railing and squinted into the distance- before his eyes widened.

Not even a hundred feet away was a giant... statue... esque... thing marching in the direction of...

"Beacontown," Lukas muttered in worry, looking down.

Immediately, his brain went straight to his... well, okay, he wasn't sure if Jesse was his _girlfriend_ , but that was honestly the closest name for her that he could think of. No doubt she somehow was wrapped up in this.

He turned around instantly and flipped open a chest that he kept on the porch, adjusting his jacket before yanking on a pair of gold gloves with the fingertips exposed and jumping back into his old boots with a small thud, which almost creaked a bit with pleasure, as if it had missed him. A flash of gold as an old enchanted sword he hadn't used in months came out of the chest and went into the sheathe on his back.

Pulling one last thing out- which was a pair of goggles with a greenish tint to the lenses- he popped that onto his head. Not _nearly_ as well equipped as he'd been in the past, but he didn't have time to go scouring and searching for his armor right now.

"Looks like it's time..." he muttered softly, turning around again and scanning the landscape, catching the last glimpse of the statue as it continued its march towards Beacontown. "To write the _next chapter_."

The horse whinnied the moment he turned around, Lukas nodding and rushing towards it with his tail flapping in the wind slightly, ears rotating so they were facing forward as he fluidly leaped onto the horse's back.

The horse reared back for a moment, and he was off.

* * *

 **A/N: And with that, Episode 1 of Season 2 has been COMPLETED!**

 **Y'know, I'm actually really happy about that. I'm definitely not going to finish Episode 2 by the time Episode 3 actually releases, but it'll definitely be in the works!**

 **Fun fact: Petra 'smoking' was more of her poking an unlit cigarette that someone in Bad Luck Alley had given her thinking that it was a small roll of paper due to it being dark out while she tried to find something, and accidentally lighting it while exhaling. Go figure.**

 **Any guesses on the code at all? Any?**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **TheAmberShadow: Hm... I might have a look then. / (chuckles) Yeah, I like that aspect too. / (laughs) Well, who says it isn't? xD / (chuckles) / Hahaha, would you have really?**

 **RavenBlaze4850: (laughs) Well, it's nice to see ya again! / Does it really? xD / (laughs) Of course Jesse would say 'hi' to the enemy. She's a polite person. For the most part. xD / Trust me, I don't know. Most people don't really bleed in Minecraft, and of course you don't see a lot of blood in any Pixar movies. Mostly just implied blood. / Actually, it wasn't, but good point. :) / (laughs) She knows. She wasn't doing it on purpose.**

 **homeworkoverload: (chuckles) / Oh yes I have. A multitude of times. / She didn't try. She needed to hold it for a moment and just stuck it in her mouth while she tried to find it. xD**

 **LunartheMooncake: I know how you feel fam, I know how you feel. / Oh wow. You must REALLY hate math right now, then.**

 **CamronXTheXGamer: Yeah, she panicked when she found out.**

 **Boggie445: Well, since it was a one-time thing and an accident, not really.**

 **Rabbits rule: Technically she didn't try lol / Oh, wow. Do you really?**

 **Emily The Avenger: (laughs)**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


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